Bay of Plenty District Health Board redundancies cost $460,000

More than $460,000 in redundancy pay was dished out to employees by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board in five years. Photo / File

A big final pay cheque can help sweeten the bitterness of being made redundant and new figures show a number of employees departing from the Bay of Plenty District Health Board received their share of a sizeable sum. Reporter Jean Bell delves into the data and speaks to those who help people who have found themselves jobless.
More than $460,000 was paid to employees made redundant by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board in five years.

Between the 2013/2014 and 2017/2018 financial years, $461,203 was paid to 21 employees made redundant, according to documents released under the Official Information Act to the New Zealand Taxpayer's Union.

The Bay of Plenty Times approached the Bay of Plenty DHB asking what department the staff worked in, how long they were employees, why staff were made redundant, whether staff had been re-employed by the DHB in another capacity and what the DHB's response to criticism of the cost would be.

Bay of Plenty DHB senior adviser governance and quality Debbie Brown declined to comment.

She said: "Having carefully considered your request and as a result of feedback from an affected person we are declining to release the information to the level of detail requested.

"This is to protect the privacy of a natural person (clause 9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act 1983)."

New Zealand Taxpayer's Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke said redundancies that were made for the sake of improved efficiency should be welcomed but individual payouts should be decreased.

New Zealand Taxpayer's Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. Photo / File

"Every dollar spent on a payout is a dollar less that can be used for the core health services that taxpayers expect their money to be spent on."

He said DHBs should annually compare the size and number of redundancy payouts.

Citizen's Advice Bureau Tauranga manager Kim Saunders urged people to be proactive by carefully reading any new employment contract and reviewing existing contracts to ensure they were in line with current legislation.

"It's only when you have a problem that people read it."

She said each case the bureau dealt with was different and the advice differed accordingly.

Tauranga Budget Advisory Service manager Shirley McCombe. Photo / File

Tauranga Budget Advisory Service manager Shirley McCombe urged people facing redundancy to seek advice.

She said a lump sum redundancy payout could impact Work and Income assistance. She said Work and Income or IRD would often speak with employees being made redundant. Otherwise, the employee would need to make contact.

According to the Employment NZ website, redundancy and payment of redundancy compensation, where applicable, was the last option and should only happen once all other redeployment options have been exhausted.

An Employment NZ spokesperson said anyone concerned about the employment situation of themselves or someone they know is advised to call the Employment New Zealand contact centre on 0800 20 90 20, where their concerns will be handled in a safe environment.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board redundancy payouts

2013/2014: $74,601 - 4 employees
2014/2015: $186,068 - 7 employees
2015/2016: $38,121 - 2 employees
2016/2017: $41,936 - 3 employees
2017/2018: $120,477 - 5 employees

Source: Bay of Plenty DHB