Wollongong Coal company secretary Sanjay Sharma took a termination payout of more than $330,000 in 2017, but was back in his old job a month later.
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He started back “two or three days” a week, but was up to five days a week as company secretary on a casual basis within “four or five months”, Mr Sharma told the Fair Work Commission (FWC) last week.
Under questioning from CFMEU lawyer Adam Walkaden at the FWC hearing, Mr Sharma first agreed the payment was a “redundancy” – but shortly afterwards he corrected this and said it was in fact a “termination payout”. He said he had resigned for “a personal reason” which he did not disclose.
But when asked by Mr Walkaden how it was he had resigned but was still paid redundancy, Mr Sharma said: “Redundancy? What do you mean by redundancy? This is my entitlements.”
Soon afterwards he said “Sorry I didn’t understand when redundancy means ...”, and said the payout was related to his contract.
Mr Sharma said a month later he started back two or three days to help out.
He returned to full-time within five months after “I realised that there’s something else I’m pursuing is not worthwhile”.
This status of the “termination payout” was left unclear but appeared to be related to a term in his contract.
FWC senior deputy president Jonathan Hamberger then said “I don’t want to start looking at his contract and stuff and I don’t really think that’s right”.
Wollongong Coal was in the PWC because it had applied to terminate the miner’s workplace agreement, so if it restarts operations at the Russell Vale colliery, it can do so on terms more favourable to low-cost mining.
Mr Walkaden said the payout “doesn’t appear to be entirely consistent with keeping costs to a minimum”.
Mr Sharma has spent 14 years with Gujarat NRE and Wollongong Coal.
Company records show Mr Sharma’s total package for the 2017 financial year was $549,918 – $185,309 of which was his salary.
Since his brief absence, his base salary has risen to $214,000 for 2018 – back above his pre-resignation salary in 2016.
Mr Sharma said the substance of his role was the same as before. “I don’t get annual leave, sick leave or any other benefit because I’m casual ...” he said.
The Wollongong Coal 2017 annual report makes no mention of reasons for Mr Sharma departing. He is said to be “actively involved”. There is an un-notated entry for the $330,843 “termination benefits”.
Comment was sought from Wollongong Coal.
