Today, as a consequence of a negotiated outcome, the NSW Court of Appeal upheld part of City of Newcastle\u2019s (CN) appeal regarding the termination of Jill Gaynor\u2019s employment.
\nThe appeal was upheld in relation to an important aspect of what CN argued was a significant error in the District Court\u2019s decision last year. In short, the Court today confirmed CN had a lawful right to terminate Ms Gaynor\u2019s employment and reduced the damages payable to her. Further, error was also acknowledged with respect to the judge of the District Court who heard this matter in that he failed to have regard to CN\u2019s evidence which gave rise to CN\u2019s right to terminate Ms Gaynor\u2019s employment.
\nCN took the view in 2018, following an extensive independent review, that Ms Gaynor\u2019s conduct in managing Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) was not to the standard required, and made the decision to terminate her employment accordingly.
\nThis decision to terminate Ms Gaynor\u2019s employment was, in part, as a consequence of Ms Gaynor, between 2015 and 2018, approving the release of significant amounts of Special Business Rate funding to Newcastle Now despite the absence of a Business Plan at any time during the 3 years.
\nFinancial statements provided by Newcastle Now for the period 2015\/16 to 2017\/18 reveal that the BIA spent $1,384,488.95 on wages and a further $287,799.70 on administration, representing 56% of its total income. Such expenditure was never the purpose of the Special Purpose Levy.
\nCN sets a high standard for its senior staff, especially in ensuring public money is administered appropriately and as required by law. Today\u2019s outcome in the Court of Appeal confirmed CN\u2019s right to bring Ms Gaynor\u2019s employment to an end prior to the completion of her senior staff contract term.
\nCN takes very seriously its obligations to ratepayers with respect to accounting for levied funds and their divestment. Compliance with the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) was at the very core of CN\u2019s concern with the District Court decision, and the reason it pursued this matter to the Court of Appeal.
\nFollowing the termination of Ms Gaynor\u2019s employment and, in light of the above, CN has taken significant steps to ensure its processes regarding the expenditure of ratepayer funds are transparent and accountable. CN looks forward to the continued successful management of its new BIA structure and notes the many fruitful projects already delivered across the Local Government Area, as well as the Hamilton BIA being awarded the 2021 Community Group of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, as a consequence of a negotiated outcome, the NSW Court of Appeal upheld part of City of Newcastle\u2019s (CN) appeal regarding the termination of Jill Gaynor\u2019s employment. The appeal was upheld in relation to an important aspect of what CN argued was a significant error in the District Court\u2019s decision last year. In short, … Continue reading “Statement on Jill Gaynor employment termination appeal”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}