Source : THE AGE NEWS
Two former executives at Rebel Sport owner Super Retail Group have been unsuccessful in their application to force the company to uphold an alleged settlement deal, with their case dismissed in the Federal Court on Monday.
The former top lawyers at Super Retail – Rebecca Farrell and Amelia Berczelly – are at the centre of a major workplace bullying claim against the retailer. The two had been attempting to enforce the terms of an agreement they said the company had agreed to in May following their dismissal.
“The applicant’s prayer for relief in the nature of specific performance be dismissed,” Justice Michael Lee ordered on Monday morning.
Former Super Retail Group chief legal officer Rebecca Farrell (left), former company secretary Amelia Berczelly (centre) and their lawyer Michael Harmer have a legal battle against the retailer.Credit: James Brickwood
Terms of the alleged deal have been suppressed by the courts, with the company denying such an offer ever existed. Justice Lee ruled the terms would remain suppressed in an order on Monday.
The ruling marks the latest step in a long-running saga that has thrust Super Retail – which also owns popular brands BCF and Macpac – into the spotlight, beginning in April when the company warned investors that the two former employees would commence court proceedings, with damages of up to $50 million possible.
Allegations included in the claim involved the company’s chief executive, Anthony Heraghty, having an affair with the company’s head of HR, inappropriate use of company funds, workplace bullying, poor responses to whistleblower complaints from the board and alleged breaches of the Corporations Act.
Farrell and Berczelly will now pursue a separate case to seek compensation under the Fair Work Act from Super Retail, which names Heraghty and former chairwoman Sally Pitkin as parties in the proceedings.
Berczelly alleges the retailer pushed her to the verge of suicide and bankruptcy as punishment for bringing to light allegations of the affair.
“I believed that SRG [Super Retail], Mr Heraghty and Ms Pitkin wanted to push me to kill myself, destroy my reputation, and bankrupt me as a means to silence me and punish me for being a whistleblower against them and Mr Heraghty’s partner,” Berczelly wrote in an affidavit
At the company’s annual meeting in October, Pitkin said the company had attempted to come to an agreement with the two employees before the issue made it to court.
“We were unable to do so. We tried to settle on reasonable terms because, as you would appreciate, that’s an appropriate risk management strategy for the company to undertake,” she said at the time.
“The court will resolve the matter, and I know that the court is working assiduously to expedite that resolution.”
Super Retail has denied the accusations made by its two former employees, and in June issued the duo and their lawyers, Harmers Lawyers, with a defamation concerns notice over claims made in a media release.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) confirmed in October it was also looking into the matter.
Shares in the retailer rose 4.95 per cent to $15.49 on Monday.
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