TechnologyOne hits back against ‘outrageous statements’ by Victorian state manager Behnam Roohizadegan in High Court win

Chairman Adrian DiMarco says a former top executive who sued for damages ‘made attempts to grab headlines’ and it will defend the case again as the High Court orders a retrial.

Adrian Di Marco, chairman of TechnologyOne. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Australia’s largest listed enterprise technology company TechnologyOne had a win in the High Court on Thursday, with the court dismissing a former employee’s appeal of a prior Federal Court decision, with the case to now proceed to a retrial.

TechnologyOne had been ordered to pay $5.2m in damages in October 2020 when it lost an unfair dismissal case against former Victorian state manager Behnam Roohizadegan, who had accused the company’s senior executives of bullying.

On August 5 that decision was set aside by the Full Federal Court, and a retrial ordered. Mr Roohizadegan then sought special leave to appeal to the High Court, which was dismissed on Thursday.

“We note that in an attempt to grab headlines, some parties have continued to refer to outrageous statements contained in the original judgment, knowing that this judgment has been comprehensively overturned by the Full Federal Court,” TechnologyOne chairman Adrian Di Marco said in a statement.

“As has been previously reported in the press, this was a senior executive earning close to $1m per year, who no longer had the confidence of the board and his fellow executives and against whom serious allegations, including bullying behaviour, had been raised by staff. He could not work constructively with many of his peers and his executives, and we took action to address this in 2016.

“As shown in evidence during the trial, Mr Roohizadegan has undertaken significant litigation on two previous occasions; against a previous employer and also a hospital that treated a family member.

“TechnologyOne acted ethically, appropriately and within the law in the actions we took. We look forward to expediting this matter to an end, as soon as possible.”

Mr Roohizadegan had claimed that the company terminated his employment in part because he had a mental disability and said he had been bullied by two senior executives.

The software provider had said it was not aware of the mental health issues at the time. He was dismissed because the company “no longer had confidence” in him, it said.

Mr Roohizadegan was contacted for comment.