16 CENTRAL COAST COUNCIL NEWS Central Coast Council ends Administration period in strong financial position What’s Does This Mean for Australian Businesses? Employees will now have the right to not respond to contact from their employer outside of their working hours, unless doing so is unreasonable. This means that managers will need to reconsider their expectations regarding contact with workers outside of their usual hours of business. To be clear, the changes don’t necessarily stop employers from contacting staff after hours. Instead, the focus of the changes is to provide a pathway for employees to choose not to respond to, or even check, communications. For some employees, this may mean (for example) not checking emails, while for others it could mean that they turn off a work phone altogether outside of their usual working day. Does this mean no employee will ever check their work messages out of hours again? In short – no. Firstly, the changes allow individual employees to make the decisions about how contactable they will or won’t be, but it is not a blanket right for employees to ignore out-of-hours contact in all circumstances. There is also a test of reasonableness which applies to the changes. The following are some of the factors managers should consider when thinking about contacting employees outside their paid hours: • the reason for the contact or attempted contact (can it wait until tomorrow/usual working hours?) • the method of contact and level of disruption it causes the employee • whether the employee is being compensated to remain available or perform additional work outside ordinary hours • the nature of the employee’s role and the employee’s level of responsibility • the employee’s personal circumstances (including family or caring responsibilities) What this tells us is that the workplace context and arrangements are critical to determining what is reasonable. What may be unreasonable to expect of an employee in a junior role, may be commonplace for a high level manager who is adequately compensated for the expectation of being available out of hours. What do Businesses need to do about these new laws? Depending on the nature of the business, and factors such as workplace culture, for some employers the new right to disconnect will have little to no impact, while for others, it may fundamentally shift how employers interact with their employees outside of working hours. Businesses should be considering their current work practices and business requirements, and the policies which guide them, and making updates accordingly. Line managers also need to be clear with workers about business and role expectations by communicating upfront with employees about working hours and organisational culture. For example, if it is considered necessary for an employee to be available for out of hours contact, you might consider negotiating a modest pay increase or allowance to compensate for this. The Hicksons Workplace Relations team has experience in reviewing, drafting, and implementing practical and sensible policies in response to these changes in the law, and are ready to answer any questions you may have CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 • Industry has consistently said that the proposed infrastructure could have been approved under SEPP (Transport & Infrastructure), for works carried out by or on behalf of a public authority. • It’s reminiscent of the “tree trimming” saga, north of Warnervale Airport, where Council staff initially ‘opted in’ to the BCAct provisions thus requiring ecocredits, but when Council realised credits would exceed $500K for the tree trimming, they ‘opted out’ (the default position for SEPP projects) and avoided the eco-credit liability. • In Council’s assessment report it states that the Applicant failed to provide adequate and additional information, particularly in relation to the Wyong Sun Orchid & Midge Orchid. The Applicant has been working with Council’s ecologist and is surprised by this recent planning decision; • Mountain Road Projects Pty Ltd is currently assessing its options – Most likely seeking a Review of Determination, lodged back to Council. Phantom orchid kills infrastructure extension to unlock land at Halloran Please Stop Talking to Me: Australian Workers NEW Right to Disconnect PRESENTING HIS FINAL Report as Administrator of Central Coast Council, Rik Hart said that Council is now in a strong financial position, with a reduction in debt of $150 million from when it was put under administration. Council’s debt at the commencement of the administration period was just under $350M, due to having to take out two emergency loans, it now sits at less than $200M. With CEO David Farmer on leave until October, Acting CEO, Marissa Racomelara said Central Coast Council was put in administration because of inadequate financial management leading to a financial crisis. As well as delivering the Financial Recovery Plan, over the last two financial years Council has significantly improved its financial processes and delivered financial statements that satisfied audits undertaken by the NSW Audit Office and were completed within the legislated timeframe. “Council has progressively turned annual operating losses into appropriate surpluses. This means that Council ‘s performance favourably exceeds one of the most important indicators of Council’s financial health,” Ms Racomelara said. During 2023-2024, Council contained expenditure within the income that was available, whilst delivering services and projects to the community and ensuring that the organisation was able to absorb any adverse financial impact that arose during the year. “As a result of this prudency, Council has achieved an operating surplus of $38.6M. Over the last three financial years we have accumulated surpluses totalling $114M. While this is still short of the more than $160M in losses accumulated over the three preceding financial years, our focus going forward is achieving sufficient surplus to make up the gap, and to remain sustainable into the future.” Ms Racomelara noted that in addition to achieving a good operating result, Council has also managed its cashflow well. “During the year we have repaid more than $100M of borrowings, including one of the emergency loans taken out during the financial crisis. At the same time, we were able to draw down the first $10M to deliver the upgrade of the Mardi Water Treatment Plant project. Central Coast Council Administrator Rik Hart said he is very pleased that Council’s financial position is a positive one. CENTRAL COAST BUSINESS REVIEW SEPTEMBER 2024
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