Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Wellington Council's been caught keeping secrets from ratepayers again

Now, you would have thought that after all the publicity Wellington City Council has been getting - and the paid staff have been getting - for being caught doing things behind the backs of elected councillors, they probably wouldn’t do it again.

And yet, here we are. They’ve been caught doing it again.

The latest revelation is that they have decided to exempt themselves from a Government law brought in about three months ago.

The law prevents employees who earn more than $200,000 from taking personal grievance cases against their bosses if they are fired. In other words, there will be no golden handshake if you’ve been sacked while earning that kind of money.

But guess what? Wellington City Council bosses decided they weren’t going to follow that law and exempted 42 of their staff from it. That’s quite unbelievable, because the law is intended to make it easier for employers to remove incompetent managers who have been doing very little for years on end.

And Wellington City Council knows it has a problem. A recent report suggests they may have a couple of hundred staff they need to get rid of. They have one of the highest staffing levels in the country when compared with other councils.

As I say, they didn’t tell elected councillors they made this decision. However, a councillor found out, started asking questions and it turns out it was true. Technically, the council can argue it didn’t have to inform elected councillors -this is an employment decision they can make themselves.

But even the mayor, Andrew Little, has said this should have gone to the council for signoff. It’s not a good look.

And it’s becoming a bit of a running theme, hasn’t it? Not just in Wellington but around the country: unelected staff making decisions in secret that ratepayers probably wouldn’t be happy about if they knew.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, I would have thought that after all that publicity
that Wellington's City Council's been getting and the paid staff
have been getting for being busted doing things behind the
backs of the elected councilors, they pro probably possibly wouldn't
do it again. And yet here we are they've been
busted doing it again. So the latest revelation is that
they have decided to exempt themselves from a government law

(00:20):
that was brought in about three months ago that stops
employees who earn more than two hundred thousand dollars from
taking personal grievance cases against their bosses if their bosses
fire them, as in, there will be no golden handshake
if you've been sacked and you're earning that much money.
But guess what, Wellington City Council bosses decided they weren't
going to do that, and they exempted forty two of

(00:41):
their staff from this particular law, which is kind of
unbelievable because this law is supposed to make it easier
for bosses to fire in competent managers who are doing
much doing nothing much for years on end in their jobs,
and Wellington City Council knows that they have according to
a recent report, possibly a couple of hundred staff that
they know to get rid of. They have one of
the highest levels of staffing in the country when you

(01:04):
compare them with other councils. Each household in Wellington is
paying for nineteen full time equivalent staff Upperhart, just up
the road, they are only supporting ten stuff. Wellington City
Council nineteen stuff. As I say, they didn't tell the
elected councilors that they'd taken this decision, but a councilor
found out about it started asking questions. Turns out it
was true. Technically, the council can say they didn't have

(01:27):
to tell the elected councilors this. This is an employment decision,
they can make it by themselves. But even the Mayor,
Andrew Little, has said this should have come to the
council to sign off. It's not a good look. It
is becoming a bit of a running theme, isn't it,
Not just in Wellington but around the country, Unelected staff
making decisions in secret that ratepayers probably wouldn't love if

(01:47):
they knew about it. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news talks. The'd be from four pm
weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,