A former Optus employee is suing for $14.5 million claiming the telco failed to protect her from a "known bully" in the organisation who made it difficult for her to do her job.
Kerry Morrison, who worked for seven months as the head of sales, service and marketing in Optus's digital division, says she was dismissed without notice on February 7, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Ms Morrison last week launched a multi-million-dollar damages suit against Singtel Optus to cover loss of future earnings and damage to her professional reputation.
In court papers filed by legal firm Harmers Workplace Lawyers, Ms Morrison suggests there was a "dysfunctional culture of bullying, suppression and victimisation" within Optus.
She claims she was not told about "strong tensions" between her supervisor in the digital division, Austin Bryan, and the head of the consumer division, Michael Smith.
A statement of claims filed by Harmers described Mr Smith as a "known bully" who was "highly protective of revenue in his own division".
Mr Smith allegedly opposed Ms Morrison's initiatives to boost online sales because it would "lead to a decline of sales through retail", which he managed.
Tensions allegedly boiled over during a meeting on January 11 when Mr Smith ''started screaming at [Ms Morrison] and became physically aggressive and overbearing to the point where [Ms Morrison] became fearful and emotionally upset [and was] physically shaking", court papers claim.
Ms Morrison says she was sacked by her boss Mr Bryan on February 7.
Optus has said it will defend the its position against Ms Morrison's "unjustified claims".
heraldsun.com.au 26 Apr 2012
Bullying, discrimination, victimisation are more predominant in the telco industry then the corporate media make it out.
Only 'high profile' stories like this make it out into the public arena.
Naturally since the telcos have at their disposal '300 lawyers', it's the financial might of the telco that prevails over any injustice occurred, therefore case like this either do not make it to court, are dismissed, or even prior to any court appearance the telco intimidate the victims.
The corrupt legal system supports the multinationals, as any win against them will set a precedence for other to take legal action. This is discussed between the lawyers, and the matter is already known which way it will go, before any court appearance.
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