THE former CEO of a Hunter family violence and homelessness shelter is fighting a fraud charge in court, after being accused of improperly approving her own pay changes.
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Former Carrie's Place boss Janet Marjorie McDonald faced a hearing in Maitland Local Court on Tuesday. She was charged in March 2022 with one count of dishonestly obtaining advantage by deception after the non-profit's governance committee reported the matter to police.
Ms McDonald worked for the shelter from 2008 to 2020 and became manager in 2009.
The prosecution case is that she did not have authority to increase her remuneration without the approval of the governance committee.
The court heard it was a "quite complex fraud matter".
Defence solicitor Natasha Konic said Ms McDonald's actions had been "open and transparent", and argued the committee had been looking for a reason to sack her after she went onto workers' compensation.
The court heard Ms McDonald and the governance committee began negotiating a new employment agreement in early 2018, but her new contract - which included a 3 per cent increase in line with CPI - was enacted later that year after the governance committee had been removed due to a vote of no confidence.
In giving evidence on Tuesday, Ms McDonald said committee chairperson at the time Nada Vujat called her in February 2018 to warn her she did not have any industrial protections because her previous contract was "invalid".
Ms McDonald said Ms Vujat accepted her request for an arrears payment for her and her second-in-charge as an "act of good faith" while their contracts were sorted out.
Ms McDonald told the court she "enacted" that back pay.
Ms Vujat, who was called as a prosecution witness, denied she agreed to allow back pay.
She said, if appropriate, arrears were not typically paid until a new contract was put in place and any such arrangement would need the approval of the governance committee.
"It wouldn't have occurred," she said.
"The contract we were putting together ... was quite different to the original proposal of Ms McDonald. It was a salary package - we were moving away from an hourly rate.
"It would make no sense to me as to what the backdating would be of."
In giving her evidence, Alexandra Longbottom - who was chairperson after the committee was reformed - rejected the notion the committee had been looking for a way to have Ms McDonald sacked when the matter was reported to police in March 2020 - three months after Ms McDonald took up workers' compensation.
Jennifer Harland, Ms McDonald's second-in-charge who was called as a prosecution witness, told the court Ms McDonald said to her in early 2018 she had spoken with Ms Vujat, who had given the green light for back pay for them both.
Ms Harland said Ms McDonald had "more integrity than anyone I've ever known".
The hearing before Magistrate Kevin Hockey was left part-heard and will resume at Singleton Local Court on July 21.
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