TechnologyOne founder Adrian Di Marco says he wasn’t aware that a former executive was working 18 hours a day or suffering from poor mental health before he was sacked in 2016, igniting a long-running unfair dismissal case against the software company.

Di Marco, who led TechnologyOne as its chief executive and then executive chairman until 2022, told the Federal Court on Monday that Behnam Roohizadegan had not been sacked from the company, where he was its Victorian manager, as a way to cut costs. “I was more than happy to pay. Finding good regional sales managers is almost impossible. If they can grow the business, I’m happy to pay,” Di Marco said.