Former Burnside CEO Paul Deb rude and crude to workers, unfair dismissal trial in Supreme Court hears

Burnside Council’s ex-CEO had improper images in a work Dropbox, made salacious remarks about the mayor and called a councillor a “dumb f**k”, a court has heard.

A sacked council chief made salacious remarks about the mayor, stored improper images in his work account and branded one councillor a “dumb f**k”, a court has heard.

Former Burnside boss Paul Deb’s long-awaited trial for unfair dismissal against his former employer began this week in the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Chris Kourakis heard Mr Deb was asking for $252,232 in lost wages for the remainder of his contract and had reserved his position on asking for thousands more in aggravated damages.

Opening the trial, Simon Blewett, for Mr Deb, drew what he called the “battle lines” for the proceedings.

Mr Blewett said among the allegations levelled at Mr Deb were during a leadership meeting on November 28, 2018, he said: “You can wrap Councillor Julian Carbone around your little finger.”

Former Burnside Council CEO Paul Deb is suing the council for unfair dismissal in the Supreme Court. Picture Sarah Reed.

He is also accused of calling Councillor Lilian Henschke a “dumb f**k” in the same meeting.

Another ground of dismissal is that Mr Deb made a female colleague feel uncomfortable by saying he was imagining Mayor Anne Monceaux in the shower with her husband rubbing her back.

Mr Blewett said the “dumb f**k” claim and alleged inappropriate comments about the mayor would be contested and Mr Deb and another witness would give evidence they were never said.

The court heard following the dismissal, council workers had found inappropriate images in a Dropbox account used by Mr Deb. No detail was given in court about the nature of the images.

Mr Blewett said Mr Deb initially had a private Dropbox but had transferred it to his work account in 2016 when the council began paying a licensing fee for larger storage.

Some of the inappropriate images in the Dropbox had been uploaded before 2016, but others were added after the account was being paid for by the council.

Burnside Mayor Anne Monceaux at the intersection at the bottom of the South-Eastern Freeway in 2019. Photo Roy VanDerVegt.

“For better or worse he continued to regard this as his private account in that he presumed he was the only person who had access to the material because it was his email address and his password that you need in order to access,” Mr Blewett said.

Two other grounds for Mr Deb’s dismissal related to him providing support via email for other staff who had been critical – in their own emails – of elected members for failing to rein in rogue Councillor Lance Bagster.

Mr Bagster was found by the State Ombudsman to have bullied several council staff.

Burnside councillor Lance Bagster was found to have bullied several Council staff in what the Ombudsman called an “appalling course of behaviour”.

Mr Blewett said those grounds were factually not in dispute, but the characterisation of the emails would be disputed.

Another ground of dismissal was that Mr Deb did not disclose a conflict of interest into the investigation into the emails critical of the other workers.

Mr Blewett said Mr Deb was initially the subject of 12 complaints to council from a colleague including smelling of alcohol while on the job and failing to turn up to work.

However, those were among seven not cited as grounds for dismissal.

Mr Deb had just over a year left of his contract in the $241,000-a-year role.

The trial continues.

Originally published as Former Burnside CEO Paul Deb rude and crude to workers, unfair dismissal trial in Supreme Court hears