Andrews v Mackay Medical Investments Pty Ltd trading as Pioneer Valley Hospital [1994] QIRC 401 (1994) 146 QGIG 821

820 QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT m DUSTRIAL GAZETTE [29 July. 1994 29 July, 1994] QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT rNDUSTRIAL GAZETTE 821 ###################/1######/1##/1#/l###/l/l#/lfl####ll##ll##/I#### QUEENSLAND I NDUSTRIAL RELAT IONS CO MMISSI ON In dustrial I/ elations !let 199 0 s. 295 - applicalion fo r reinstateme nt Kathryn Ann Andrews AND Mackay Medical Investments Pty Ltd trading as Pioneer Va ll ey Hospital (No B80ofi994 ) CO MMISSIONER EDWARDS 20 July 1994 Termi nati on of Employment - Dismissal - Rein statement - Ev id ence - Employee Worked Long and Excessive Hou rs - Inefficien t "vlanagcmcnt Structure - Staff Restructure Imp lemented - Employee >J ot In cluded in New S tru cwre - Di smissal Ha rsh. Unjust and Unreasonable - Re instatement/Re-employmem Inappropriate -- Com pensation Awa rded. DE C IS ION This is an app li ca tion by Kat hryn Ann Andrc"s fo r reinstatemen t to her former employment with lvl ackay Med ical Invest me nts Pty Lt d, trading as Pioneer Va lley Hospita l. No rris Road . No rt h Mackay. On l 0 June 1994. I issu ed the fol lowing decision from the Re nch:- ·· Jn all the circum stances Lh e dism issal was harsh. unjust and unreasonable. So be it. the Co mm ission believes that in vi<.'.w of the changes which ha ve taken place it is not appropriate to o rd er reinstalemen t or re- em ployment. In considerati on of the pe ri od of employment and th e cll'ons made. I hereby order that a compensation payment eq ui valent to fo ur weeks salary be made to Mrs Andrews by the Emp loyer .... I now ou tli ne fi.111 detuils as a result of my decis io n. Mrs Andrews was em pl oyed hy Mackay Medical In vestments 1'1y Ltd for the period 12 September 199 1 until 28 Janu ary 1994 h>nn al job desc ri ptions of ad mi nistrat ion staff we re non-existen t however th is was in keeping with the lack of managemen t and financial systems within the ho spita l. The Comm is si on was in fon n ed th at Mrs Andrews worked lon g hours and was an enth us iast ic and dedicated employee. lvlrs And rews who did not have an y fomrn l qualifications was wo rking as a clerk/computer operato r. It was suggested sh e was 1101 adequately trained to pe rform such work. Obvi ously without management su pport Mrs An drews ex pe rienced cons iderable diflicu ltie s in perfonning her du ties with in a reasonable ti me frame. As s uch financial statements we re noL prepare <.! within reasonable time fra mes a nd even basic record in g requirements such as leave entitlements for staff were in adequate. The extens ive hours she worked lead th e Board of Management to be concerned abou t the amount of ti me in lie u. In this regard Dr Cook in ev idence continned th at on a reg ul ar ba sis he worked wi th Mrs Andrews outside nonna l hou rs. In consideration of the fi nancial posi tion Mr Ga rske s ubm ilt ed that the Com p an y wa s prepared l() provide to th e Co mmiss ion. for infonna ti on on ly. the financial records or the Company. The Comm issi on did no t accept the offer as the Co mmi ss ion acknowledged from th e evidence th at financia l management of the Com pany wa s totally inade qu ate. From th e evid ence it was ap pa re nt t Cl the Com mi ssion t ha t t he pro bl em was not wi th the ti nanc ial p os itio n but failure of the Board to pu t in pl ace a management structure su ita bl e to such an establis hm en t. This is re in fo rced by the fact that in the ev id ence of Mr Meng who in response to a qucs1i o11 from the Comm ission stated:- "'You couldn't j ust say there was one because on e, wi th out the other, I be lieve, in maybe man agement and staf"f hut the ma in thing, was th at the com pu ter system j ust wasn ·1 producing any figures th at we re certa in ly correct and they c ou ld not be trnsted.''. The Co mmission further acknowledges that for a certain ti me of her em p lo yment t he Board h ad different views and di d not provide leadership and control th at one would expe ct. As a result of t he fo nnal restructure three ad mi nistrative pe rsonne l continued in employment although th ei r job descriptions we re redesigned and fonnally recorded. Except for the Financial Manager. Mrs Andrews was 1he only person to be wi thout a posi ti on as a res ult of the much needed establishment of a fo m, al management structure. In thi s decision the Comm ission does not propose to summarise t he evi dence of Mr Maytom but I acce pt that as a resu lt of the expertise of h is Com pany. Ram say Management Services Pty Ltd , a hosp it al managemen t structure was imp lemented to o ,· ercome th e concems of Mr Jenk ins of Ramsay Managemen t Se rvices Pty Ltd . These concerns we re:- • the Hospital was sign ifi camly overstaffed: • there were many instances of in efficiency: -- 1 of 2 -- S22 QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT IND US TR IAL GA ZETTE [29 July, 1994 • redundancy \vas necessary to ens ure financial viabili1y. Fu11henno re, Mr Maytom sta ted th at l ac k of st aff training was a major problem. The Commission has fo 1111 cd the opi nion that Mrs Andrews was expected by the Board to work in a comple1ely ine ffic ient 111anagcmcn1 structure. a s1ru ctu re wh ich fo rced Mrs And rews to work long and excessive hours. I acce pt t he submi ss i ons or th e uni on 1b at Mr s Andrews wa s an honcsl, hard worker. altcmpting to opernte as a clerk/computer opcr aLO r or compute r supe rv i so r when the r eal nee d was fo r management of the sty le provided by a body such as Ramsay M anagement Services Pty Ltd. I recogn i se that management mus1 acce pt the responsibi li ty to manage an d on this occasion they neede d to ac t to com ply wi th t he ir statutory responsibility in hospital management. As su ch i t is not for the Comm iss ion to interfere wit h a res tructuring pr ocess which was so necessary. In the con temporary industrial relations environment I b el i eve t ha t Ram say Managemen t Servi ces Pty Ltd need 10 extend the ir cxpc11ise to ensure that when chan ges are necessary th e industrial re lations aspect s arc managed cotTec tly. Mrs An drews was d ism issed in a har sh. unj us t and unr easonab le way. Having decided that th e dismis sa l was h ars h, unjus t and unreaso nable, th e Commission mu st now Lum its attention to the re li ef available. The C0mrnissi on was i nfo1111<:!d by Mr Maytom of Ramsay Managem en t Se rvices Pty Ltd that :- -- Sin ce his organisati on assum ed con trol the f ollow ing has bee n ach ieved:-- • admini st rative staff reduced from ft,,~ lo th rcc ; • all staff are more competen t in th e use of com puters: • there is no longer any use of outside agency staff and the need for outside <1cco untanc y se rvi ce h as been eli minated: all accoun ting is completely up 10 da te w ith monthly accoun ts com pleted 011 Lh c forth worki ng day a l\ er each month ·s close: • all computer ised systems arc not working cfftcicntly: • accounting in fonnation is now ac curate : • th e nc<.~ss ity for paid overtime ha s been elimi nated. It is my view th.it th e st aff res tructuring has l ed to a more cl1ici ent use of skills. a broadening and multi- ski lling of sta ff and th e creation of a sa t isfy- ing work envi ron111c 111. ·• . Accor dingly . I ac<:c pt th at rcins131cmcnt or re-employment of Mrs An drews is not feas ible. Tl 1c Commi ss ion w il l now addr ess the que st i on of compensation. Mrs Andrews was employcd w ith ou t a clearly de fi ned job statement and wa~ em pl oyed by u 13oard subject to lack of uni ted effort. The Com mi ss i on is aware th at she was trained in th e computer however w ithout structure and without ma nagemen t ski I Is it wou ld be d ifli cult for her to put in pl ace a rel evan t sys tem so necessary in such a hospital. It seems tlial as a clerk/com puter operator Mrs A ndre\,·s would have hccn eflicicn t and an asset to the hos pital. So he i t, the Commission accepts lhe expert view of Mr Maytom that staff se l ec tion procedures ens ure the hospi tal managemen t st ructu re is app ropriate and Mrs Andre\\$ cx p~rti se and knowledge could not form part of lhe new structure. On this hasis the Commission detc m1i ncd the com pensation as adv ised on 10 June 1994 to be appropri ate . I order accordingly. K .L. EDWA RDS. Commiss i oner. Appearances: - Mr J. O'Donne ll for t he federat ed Clerks Union of Austral i a, North Queensland Branch, Union of Em ployees on behal f of the Ap pli cant. Mr P. Garske for the Queensl and Confederati on of Industry, Union of Employers on behalf of Mackay Medical In ves tments Pty L t d. Ope r at i ve Date: NI A Decision - Reinstatement Released: 20 Ju ly 1994 # ########################## # ##11# /l###########lf###### #### 29 July, I 994] QUEEN SLAND GOVERNM ENT INDUSTR IAL GA ZETTE 823 -- 2 of 2 --