HSSD bosses in dismissal cover-up
Saturday 17th January 2009, 9:30AM GMT.
MANAGERS at the Health and Social Services Department unfairly sacked one of their staff – and are trying to cover up their actions.
This emerged after the department decided at the last moment not to contest an industrial tribunal hearing brought by the dismissed employee.
Brian McDonald, whose role at the department has not been disclosed, was dismissed last year and the HSSD was initially prepared to dispute his claim.
However, on the day of the hearing, department officials struck a deal with Mr McDonald immediately before the panel could start to hear the evidence and adjudicate on his complaint.
Those discussions centred on how much money Mr McDonald should receive for being unfairly dismissed and, although that is paid for by the taxpayer, the department has taken legal steps to prevent disclosure of the matter.
Asked for details by the Guernsey Press, a HSSD spokesman said that a confidentiality clause was included in the settlement with Mr McDonald ‘which means that neither ourselves or Mr McDonald are allowed to disclose any details whatsoever,’ he said.
HSSD minister Deputy Hunter Adam (pictured) was unaware of the case because, he said, of the large number of staff it employs.
- Following publication of this article, Deputy Adam requested that the following paragraph replace the final sentence: ‘HSSD minister Hunter Adam and the board have been kept fully informed regarding the employee who was taking his case to an industrial tribunal. The HSSD intended to contest the issue but, as stated, an out-of-hearing settlement was made. The minister was informed of the settlement and of the confidentiality clause included in it.’
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A private deal made with public money and then hushed up, how convenient for all involved.
I suppose the HR department were too busy signing sick forms to notice this? No wonder they wanted the safety net of a confidentiality clause!
Can we expect that the managers involved in this breach of employment law will now be reprimanded, retrained and redeployed into roles that best fit their ability or, even better, dismissed for gambling with our tax money and bringing their own department into disrepute?
Whatever happened to responsibility and accountability?
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A total disgrace for the departnment to cover up its mess up.
Come on Hunter, do the right thing and tell the taxpayer what this debacle is costing them.
Carts
Not at all surprising from this department. Remember this was a department who had to be told by the Welsh Audit Office what basic States procedures were and what they should have used.
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This has the makings of another Vote of Confidence situation
How else can we get heads of departments to realise it is TAXPAYERS money they are playing with ?
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I think that if this guy was sacked unfairly and has been paid money from the public purse to keep his mouth shut about his superiors and their actions in dismissing him illegally the public should know what happened and why.And if Deputy hunter was not aware of the case then he must have better things to do than his paid role.
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Absolutely disgraceful. Yet another example of gross incompetence from our totally unaccountable civil service.
A proper inquiry is the very least that we should demand to ensure that those responsible are removed from any position of responsibility and that they cannot repeat it.
HSSD and Education both seem to be run by chimpanzees who need to be brought to account.
Don’t hold your breath though.
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I cannot believe that the Board of Health are not made aware of these cases before decisions are made. The senior management team appear to be incompetent and yet able to cover up their mistakes by offering large pay outs to by silence. No doubt looking after their own!
This is a disgraceful way to use taxpayers money. Are managers now free to make similar mistakes again and cover it up?
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A bit hard on chimpanzees to be equated with those who run education and health.
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It’s not the first time a ‘confidentiality agreement’ has been used to avoid awkward questions. Case in point was and is the lease agreement on the Markets.
Where public money is involved, confid. agreements. should not be a barrier to disclosure.
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I can’t believe that the public who are basically paying the settlement aren’t able to know what happened. Also, how come the Health and Social Services Board members weren’t informed that this was being taken to tribunal as it would have been in their best interests as it became public knowledge? I hope that the staff members involved are disciplined under the Discipline Procedures Guidelines as set out in the Civil Service.
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When those at the very top of the political pile, the most senior ministers in the government can get away with verbal abuse and threats as well as racist jokes and defiance of the people’s will, is it really any surprise to anyone that their civil service hatchet men can get away with incompetence and cover up.
It should be unsurprising, too, that the bad behaviour and jobsworth attitude of some of our senior politicians and senior civil servants has trickled down even to the most junior civil servants in almost every department.
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Not the first and won’t be the last. What can be done to stop these incidents….?
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It should have all come out in an open tribunal no gagging just transparency.
More wasted money and the perpetrators protected -great.
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Tom
Its time the deputies spoke out about such abuse of position.
Probelm is the States itself is willing to perpetuate the secrecy approach, because it makes use of it itself.
Usually when gagging orders are made it indicates incompetence, poor management and cover up.
It is amazing that Deputy Adams was not aware of this issue. If he really wasn’t aware then some heads need banging together. Just doesn’t ring true.
One excuse for not being open is data protection. The media collude in this through ignorance of data protection laws ad failing to challenge those who hide behind secrecy.
How often do we see that someone has complained to the media and the glib excuse is we cannot divulge the information because of data protection. All the media has to do is to get permission from the complainant to the information being divukged.
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Hunter Adam claiming that he was unaware of an impending tribunal involving his own department is about as believable as Floukkk’s protestations and denials of awareness over the stupid “joke” he cracked.
How can proceedings as serious as a tribunal be allowed to arise without the man at the top being advised? It beggars belief.
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I understand why companies often wish to conclude an offer with a secrecy clause, but I fail to understand why it should be necessary for the States to do so.
So legally, the agreed sum cannot be disclosed, but I cannot believe the position he held can be a secret as well!!. How does this work then, when he applies for a new job, his CV has a blank section for role and I guess experience etc.. Surely this would be unenforceable, it would be seen as a restriction on his ability to be employed at a level according to his experience. Puzzled?
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this sounds all to familer to me my partner was dismissed from the hssd department cause thay said it was to dangerous cause she has epilepsy.even though when she went for the job 1 YEAR earlier it did not matter and then a year down the line thay toss her aside like an old sock i think the way hssd treat poeple is discusting and i hope this guy takes them to the cleaners not just for himself but for all the rest of the people thay have dumped on !!!
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Fin
Its a disgrace either way. If senior civil servants with HSSD withheld the information from Hunter Adam as HSSD Minister then they must be fired. Alternatively if he was told and has falsely claimed that he didn’t know, then he must resign.
Its as black and white as that. The whole situation beggars belief, either as a cover-up or as a communication failure.
I wonder if the senior civil servants and Ministers in HSSD and Education run courses on how not to run important government departments as they seem to have identified the elements of bad practice.
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This goes on all the time.
It’s standard practice to contest an ‘aggrieved’ persons mettle by making them go all the way to the day of proceedings in the hope they will give up in advance through lack of money or the will to live.
I think its an abberation that legal policy allows the defence to capitulate the day of proceedings – talk about extra costs to the taxpayer in Crown prosecution fees / defence fees, not to mention stress on the aggreived.
Anyway – well done to our complainant, nice to see the big boys getting one put over on themselves.
You have to ask yourselves however, would this person be making a complaint and receiving a payout had he been treated well in the first place?
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Deputy Adams writing in a GP letter says he,and the board were aware of the situation and the confidentiality clause.
No mention of why a confidentiality clause was needed or any management failures.
Now that’s a surprise!!!!
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It seems that the States prefers to save money by axing services rather than insisting on strong management principles and an ethos of accountability and responsibility. Errors should result in retraining and redeployment of staff, persistent errors should result in sackings for failure to meet basic core competency standards of performance.
If public servants are allowed to roam wild then all the school closures in the island won’t stop the ever increasing rise in costs, the waste and the inefficiencies. Where is the political will to change the culture so that tax payers start to get value for money and we get the services that the huge budgets deserve?
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Carts
Easier to cut than to save.
There is indeed a political will to save. Each and every minsister subscribes to it.
Trouble is they believe it applies to everyone except themselves.
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