Former Wagga City Council general manager Alan Eldridge will today learn whether his unfair dismissal claim for more than $1 million has been successful.
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Mr Eldridge sued Wagga council in the NSW Supreme Court in 2018 after a meeting of councillors voted to summarily terminate his contract in May 2017.
The council claimed at the time that Mr Eldridge did not disclose his potential conflict of interest via his son's involvement in a Gumly real estate proposal that had applied for a rezoning.
Mr Eldridge's senior counsel, John Fernon, told the court that Mr Eldridge was not aware at the time that his son's business proposal had come before council and had not committed a "hanging offence" to justify immediate sacking.
Supreme Court Justice Andrew Bell is due to hand down his judgment in Sydney on Wednesday from 4pm.
The Eldridge case so far
- Former general manager suing Wagga City Council for $1 million
- GM unfair dismissal lawsuit returns to Supreme Court for day two
- Alan Eldridge's termination: cases for and against
- Council GM fairly sacked for 'serious misconduct', Hayes tells court
- Wagga council manager Eldridge on 'final warning', unfair dismissal hearing told
- Former GM reveals ICAC 'raid' on family's Wagga businesses
- Former general manager tells court of being 'deeply involved' in son's land plan
- Former GM denies 'nonsense' claim he changed land zone motion to benefit son
- Alan Eldridge claims 'death threats' part of delay to declare interests as former GM
- Eldridge documents ruled not for 'establishment of facts' in unfair dismissal case
- Former council GM 'lied' about funeral to take leave for private business, court told
- Eldridge did not commit 'hanging offence' to justify sacking as council GM, court told
Mr Eldridge has sought a payout for the two-and-a-half years remaining of his general manager contract, which had a remuneration of $400,000 per year, as damages.
The council's defence has suggested that damages be limited to 38 weeks pay if it lost the case.
In other news
The Supreme Court, sitting at Wagga courthouse, spent two weeks on hearings in March in which Wagga mayor Greg Conkey, council staff, councillors and Mr Eldridge's past business associates appeared as witnesses.
Mr Eldridge himself spent the longest time on the stand, giving evidence over the course of four consecutive days.
The hearings led to further claims by Wagga City Council's senior counsel Robert Goot, including allegations that Mr Eldridge "lied" about needing to attend a family funeral so he could attend to private paid work for an Aboriginal medical clinic in Batemans Bay.
Mr Eldridge named "death threats" as part of the reason why he was late in declaring his pecuniary interests to the council and said it was "nonsense" to claim that he requested council staff make changes to a council meeting motion that would have benefited his son's real estate project.
Mr Goot claimed Mr Eldridge's behaviour in the job was "outrageous" and marked by "dishonesty and deceit".
Mr Eldridge's testimony revealed that his business and home had been raided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 2019, and that he had been in contact with the watchdog agency on a prior occasion but had received no adverse findings.
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