NEWS-HR
A woman who stole a nurse's identity to work in aged care homes for five years put lives at risk, the Adelaide District Court has heard.
Jennifer Anne Reed, 65, pleaded guilty last December to seven counts of deception, between 2009 and 2014.
In sentencing submissions, the court was told Reed had an extensive history of dishonest behaviour.
It heard she stole the name and nursing details of a registered nurse and performed tasks including administering potentially lethal drugs and staff supervision.
The court was told Reed had used false names before and previously received merciful court sentences.
It heard she recently pleaded guilty to three more dishonesty charges in the Magistrates Court and intimated guilty pleas to 20 similar charges.
Prosecutor Kelly Smith said Reed received income of almost $350,000 for work in aged care homes.
She said the offending was a gross breach of both her employer's and the community's trust and there had been a potential for grave mistakes given the woman's inadequate qualifications.
"Had she not been investigated and exposed, no doubt her deception would have continued, possibly with serious consequences for those who put their trust in her for their care," she said.
The prosecutor called for Reed to be jailed when Judge Paul Muscat sentences her next month but defence lawyer Jane Abbey urged any jail term be suspended.
She said Reed was living in an aged care facility and on a pension, but willing to pay back whatever she could.
A further eight SA Health staff have been disciplined for inappropriately accessing medical records, a day after it was revealed 13 employees accessed records belonging to the man accused of killing Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh.
TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – casual – ss.394, 400, 604 Fair Work Act 2009 – permission to appeal – Full Bench – applicant found to have been unfairly dismissed in [2016] FWC 73 – respondent’s grounds of appeal included that Commissioner erred in finding that applicant not a casual employee in denial of procedural fairness and in importing notion of frustration without request by either party and without notice to parties – Full Bench considered principles regarding public interest in GlaxoSmithKline and appeal of discretionary decisions in House v The King – found arguable case of appealable error made out – satisfied Commissioner’s conclusion with respect to applicant’s employment had significance regarding the consideration of other issues for determination – employees’ legal employment status and the dichotomy between casual and part-time employees a matter of general significance – procedural issues raised by appeal grounds concerned justice and fairness – satisfied in the public interest to grant permission to appeal – directions to be issued for filing of submissions in advance of appeal hearing. Appeal by Nardy House against decision of Riordan C of 6 January 2016 [[2016] FWC 73] Re: Perry
The Health Services Union and Austin Health are in middle of a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) contretemps before Fair Work Commissioner Cribb who will hear the matter on-site at Austin Health in Heidelberg.
An application for approval of the Brightwater Care Group Employees Agreement 2015 will be determined by Fair Work Commissioner Johns in Melbourne.
St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne is facing a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) lodged by an ex-employee (Steele).
An application by Estia Investments Pty Ltd (s.318 – Application for an order relating to instruments covering new employer and transferring employees) will be reviewed by Fair Work Commissioner Johns.
A scandal-plagued union run by the close friends and political allies of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been warned it risks insolvency after it spent heavily to defend senior union officials in a case involving forged documents.
The Health Services Union No. 1 branch in Victoria lost $1.6 million in 2014/15, and a similar amount the previous year. Once the one-off sale of its building is excluded, the HSU branch has lost nearly $3.2 million in two years as cash reserves plummeted.
However, its embattled secretary and Shorten ally Diana Asmar was still paid the highest wage of any HSU official in Australia, nearly $180,000.
Fair Work Commission financial reporting advisor Ken Morgan, recently warned that the union regulator had "concerns about the ongoing solvency of the HSU-VIC1".
Mr Morgan said there were civil penalties for not acting in the best interests of a union and it was "incumbent on the officers of the union to take appropriate steps to address the net operating loss and ensure its ongoing solvency".
Late last year the role of the branch, which trades as the Health Workers Union, was revealed in Labor party branch stacking. Documents show its computers were used to pay for multiple Labor memberships with anonymous gift cards. Ms Asmar's husband, David, is a central figure in a broader branch-stacking scam that engulfed Victorian Labor.
Mr Asmar flew to Lebanon in September after he was told the royal commission into union corruption wanted to question him. He then said he was too ill to return.
He has since returned to Australia and was recently added to ballot papers as a candidate for internal Labor elections ahead of the party's state conference in April.
While the Victorian branch of the union is not affiliated to the Labor Party, its leaders are linked to Mr Shorten through Ms Asmar and notorious former blogger Andrew Landeryou, a close friend of the Opposition Leader who has played a behind-the-scenes role at the union.
Amongst those close to Mr Landeryou who have worked at the union include his wife, Kimberley Kitching, a former union general manager, and an assortment of Labor Right figures, often with chequered pasts, including David Saunderson, Scott Crawford and Dean Sherriff. Ms Asmar's election came after Mr Shorten, as workplace relations minister, launched legal action to put the dysfunctional union into administration. She won control of the branch later that year after a fiercely contested election against an ally of the corrupt Kathy Jackson.
Labor sources expect the No. 1 branch to eventually apply to reaffiliate with Victorian Labor, once the dust settles on its current scandals, and for it to align with the faction of Mr Shorten and federal frontbencher Stephen Conroy.
In NSW, the HSU's largest branch recently decided to apply to rejoin Labor after a number of years outside the fold following the corruption scandals nationally involving Craig Thomson and Michael Williamson.
In Victoria, the No. 1 branch remains mired in difficulties. The branch was in such a perilous situation a year ago it had cut staff numbers and wages. Despite the heavy pruning – which reduced the wage bill by $500,000 – its cash position collapsed from $2.4 million to $83,695 at the end of the last financial year.
Its short-term debts are well in excess of short term assets – one measure of financial distress. It has spent large amounts on advertising and marketing, believed to include giant billboards of Ms Asmar near prominent roads.
In a statement Ms Asmar denied her union was insolvent. "I completely reject any commentary that we are not solvent. We pay our debts as and when they fall due."
She said the union had a projected surplus of $500,000 this financial year. Ms Asmar said the union had previously absorbed significant debts from "the mismanagement of previous corrupt union officials" and had suffered from an "inequitable de-amalgamation some years ago by the previous administrator of the HSU."
She defended the billboards as a successful recruitment tool and defended her pay as being set by a previous administrator of the union.
Ms Asmar's pay of nearly $180,000 comes just a few years after the scandals around the exorbitant wages of Michael Williamson and Kathy Jackson who paid themselves well in excess of $250,000 a year for a union that largely represents low-paid workers.
Part of Ms Asmar's high pay includes the unusual cashing out of $25,975 of maternity leave, which the accounts note was approved by the branch's committee of management.
Much of the union's financial problems appear to stem from massive spending on legal fees which rose from an already high $434,000 in 2013/14 to nearly $1.4 million in 2014/15. The union would not say how much of that $1.4 million was spent on defending its senior leadership from their role in a scam over tests for right of entry permits, which allow union officials to access work sites.
Ms Asmar had her right of entry permit revoked in mid year by the Fair Work Commission after it emerged that the No 1. branch's then general manager Kimberley Kitching and another former HSU employee, Peggy Lee, completed tests for other officials.
The royal commission into union corruption in 2014 spent extensive time investigating the scam. Its interim report recommended criminal charges against Ms Asmar and six others but its final public reports were largely silent on the issue.
