Darren Cunningham wins $50,000 sick leave payout from Gympie council

One Queensland council has been ordered to pay a former manager $50,000 after a court found decades of unused sick leave had gone unpaid at other councils across the state.

Gympie Regional Council has been ordered to pay a former worker $50,000 in unpaid leave despite him having only worked with the organisation for one year.

Darren Cunningham won the payout following a fight with the council in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

Mr Cunningham accrued the leave while working in various councils across Queensland over more than 30 years, including Pine Rivers, Lockyer Valley, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, a published ruling from the QIRC said.

When he left Ipswich for Gympie he was owed 564 hours of sick leave and 382 hours of long service leave.

This leave was picked up by the Gympie council when he was hired as its construction manager in January 2019, as outlined under the local government industry award.

Mr Cunningham was made redundant in June 2020, only one year into his three-year contract.

Darren Cunningham’s sick and annual leave was transferred across when he left Ipswich City Council for a job in Gympie.

He was hired by South Burnett Regional Council three months later but this break in employment was too large for his leave to be carried across.

The QIRC heard the council had paid Mr Cunningham more than $191,000 as part of his redundancy deal but there was still more than $58,000 owed to him in sick leave.

Gympie council representatives argued the sick leave should not be paid out, as Mr Cunningham had not worked for the council for five years, a requirement in its staff pay agreement.

They said “at no point was there any understanding or agreement” that unused sick leave would be paid upon termination of his contract.

“Payment in lieu of accrued personal or sick leave is not a usual benefit,” they said.

Darren Cunningham was hired by the South Burnett Regional Council three months after he was made redundant at Gympie, but this break in employment was too long for those outstanding accruals to be transferred to his new employer.

Industrial Commissioner Roslyn McLennan found the terms of Mr Cunningham’s contract meant the council staff agreement did not apply to him.

Even if it did, she said, Mr Cunningham was still guaranteed a better payout than was outlined in the agreement.

His contract included remuneration for all entitlements “including but not limited to long service leave, annual leave, sick leave and accrued time”.

“I accept the inclusion of ‘sick leave’ in the Contract clause may be a matter of regret for GRC, but that is not the same as a matter of error,” Ms McLennan said.

She rejected the council’s suggestion paying out sick leave was “not a usual benefit”.

Instead Ms McLennan said this was “unremarkable” as Mr Cunningham was not covered by the staff agreement and had the “inherent insecurity of a fixed term employment”.

“By a most fortunate combination of both good health and good work ethic, Mr Cunningham had been able to accrue such a significant bank of accrued sick leave over those decades of service.”