A STORMONT department has been asked by a trade union to oversee the running of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.
Nipsa made the request to the Department for Communities claiming its members "have no confidence" in the running of the local authority.
It comes after a number of complaints were lodged against the council's chief executive Anne Donaghy, who is not currently at work.
Nipsa's Alan Law said he has written to Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey asking her to "immediately take action to discharge the management responsibility".
"Nipsa members have no confidence that the council can provide any competent investigation or supervision thereof into their complaints against the chief executive or the resultant breaches of confidentiality," he said.
The move comes a week after almost two in three council staff who took part in a survey revealed they had experienced "bullying and/or harassment at work", according to a Nipsa.
In a statement the council said it could not comment on individual complaints but that any would "be progressed appropriately in accordance with council's policies and procedures."
"A special meeting of council is due to take place on 21 October 2021, at which the interim leadership of council will be among the issues discussed, and the way forward agreed," it said in a statement.
A Department for Communities spokesman it had "received recent correspondence from Nipsa and is currently considering the issues raised."