COALFIELDS charity Kurri Kurri Community Services (KKCS) is in turmoil, with NSW Police confirming an investigation into a range of issues based on statements by former staff.
Its chief executive of six years, Mike Coddington, resigned on Monday, effective December 14, with staff notified by an email from KKCS chairman Andrew Hughes.
KKCS and its predecessor organisations have operated for decades, providing a range of services, most recently in aged care with a growing involvement in the NDIS, employing more than 300 people.
Responding to questions from the Newcastle Herald, the KKCS board issued a written statement confirming that allegations of bullying and assault had been raised against a KKCS employee in January this year and that the employee concerned had been "stood down and removed from the workplace".
"A thorough investigation was conducted and based upon the outcome of the investigation the accused staff member's employment was terminated on February 11, 2022," the statement said. That person is not Mr Coddington.
The statement said external investigators had been hired to examine KKCS's handling of the allegations, and had been found to have acted appropriately.
When the Herald asked NSW Police about various matters involving KKCS, Police Media said earlier this month: "As an active investigation is under way, we are unable to provide comment."
As well as concerns over bullying, former staff have also alleged various instances of financial impropriety, and have provided police with KKCS documents they say back their assertions.
KKCS, in turn, has accused former staff of breaching privacy agreements by taking confidential work documents.
Mr Hughes said KKCS had obtained legal advice that the complainants were not whistleblowers.
The Herald understands that whistleblower status would protect the former employees over possession of the KKCS documents they then handed to the police.
In one aspect of the unrest at KKCS, a former long-term consultant to the organisation has received a legal letter asking him to retract statements made about Mr Coddington, or face a defamation action.
The Herald has been investigating the situation at KKCS for some weeks, and the consultant says the defamation threat typifies the pressure that KKCS management is exerting on those who criticise it in any way.
Aware of the Herald's interest, Mr Hughes said KKCS had warned Cessnock state MP Clayton Barr and the federal member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson, that there might be "bad news" coming.
Ms Swanson relaunched the organisation's Lang Street offices last year after the damage it received in a major storm in November 2017.
The Herald understands that concerns over the situation at KKCS have reached Canberra, with any funding the organisation was set to receive out of Tuesday's federal budget now on hold while a review is undertaken.
In discussions with the Herald about the complaints and the investigations, Mr Hughes characterised the current board and management as the good guys who arrived in 2015-16.
The KKCS statement chronicles a series of events this year, including a SafeWork examination after an anonymous complaint, and a second independent expert to review the work of the first person to investigate the assault allegations.
"The KKCS board firmly stands behind our CEO, our management team and all our staff," the statement says.
In a letter to staff on Monday alerting them to Mr Coddington's resignation, Mr Hughes said: "In the interim, it'll be business as usual. The board and I will become a little more involved and your senior leaders will shoulder some of the load that Mike was carrying."
Mr Hughes acknowledged that a number of managers had left the organisation during recent restructures, but disputed the assertion that people leaving had been gagged with non-disclosure agreements.
With the smelter and other industries gone from Kurri, KKCS is a major employer, and operates a range of businesses from its Lang Street headquarters.
The most recent information on the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission website shows KKCS as having 65 full-time employees, 123 part-timers and 78 casuals, for a full-time equivalent staff level of 168.
Mr Hughes said employment had grown in the 16 months since those figures were posted, to 344 "currently on the payroll" - or a "full-time equivalent" of 217 people.
Turnover was more than $17.6 million in the year to June 30, 2021 - the most recent figures available, with $6.5 million in grant funding and another $2 million in "Covid 19 stimulus" - most of which is understood to be JobKeeper.
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