Here we go again, how can HR not understand section 353?
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- Published: Friday, 13 December 2024 11:54
Section 353 of the Local Government Act 1993 regulates “other work”, as it is described in the Act. It is not described as “secondary employment” or anything else but it obliges employees to declare “other work” if it “relates to the business of the Council or that might conflict with the member’s council duties”. It does not make the council responsible for managing the obligations of employees in any way.
Simple really, but since 1993 there have been waves of councils misunderstanding the obligations imposed on employees and instead seizing the opportunity to require anyone doing any work at all, in addition to their Council job, to seek approval. This is wrong.
In a depa dispute with Sydney City at the time, the Department of Local Government supported our view that it was the employee’s responsibility and, in a letter dated 7 July 1974, under the signature of the Director General of the Department of Local Government Garry Payne, said this:
“While it is recognised that councils will develop employment practices which reflect their individual approach to staff matters, these policies should not be inconsistent with the Act"
Sydney’s policy was “inconsistent with the Act” and the dispute in the IRC was settled in our favour. Embarrassingly, decades later the City Council reintroduced the inconsistent policy, we filed another dispute and they reverted to the correct policy, but we are now discovering that 30 years after the Act was legislated, councils are reverting to policies which are “inconsistent with the Act”.
If your Council has a policy inconsistent with the Act, let us know and we will happily help them understand how it works. At the moment we are happily helping Randwick (where the GM instantly responded that the policy would be rewritten), Sutherland (where they are in the process of rewriting it), Georges River (which is, at a glacier-like pace, trying to respond to make their policy consistent with the Act), and Port Macquarie Hastings (who were initially reluctant but are also moving slowly towards consistency).
Something we can mop up in 2025.