Ex-Mecca employee takes deal, withdraws unfair work claims

Mecca says it has reached a ‘pragmatic’ settlement with its former head of brand Alethea Larkin over her unfair dismissal case about being made redundant while on maternity leave.

Mecca said it had come to a pragmatic resolution of the matter. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

A senior Mecca staff member, who sparked a wave of criticism against the beauty giant’s treatment of workers on maternity leave, has accepted a settlement offer from the company in the wake of unfair dismissal claims.

Former head of brand, Alethea Larkin, lodged a fair work claim against her employer two weeks ago when she alleged Mecca discriminated against her by making her role redundant while on maternity leave, refusing to honour keeping in touch days and failing to identify suitable redeployment opportunities.

But she has now withdrawn the claim against the company and her boss, chief of marketing Kate Blythe, who she alleged threatened and targeted her.

“We are pleased to have reached a pragmatic resolution of this matter,” a Mecca spokeswoman said.

Alethea Larkin. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

“Alethea received further information from Mecca as part of the consultation process. She accepts that her position is being made redundant as part of a restructure and therefore has agreed to discontinue her claim against Mecca and Ms Blythe,” she said.

“Alethea’s employment with Mecca was terminated by way of redundancy with effect from 26 February 2024. We thank Alethea for her 2.5 years of service and wish her well for the future.”

Ms Larkin will be paid “contractual and statutory entitlements in full”, the spokeswoman said. Ms Larkin’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Ms Larkin’s story prompted a number of former Mecca staff members to reveal a high pressure work environment at the popular cosmetics giant’s head office, including a second woman who came forward to report she had returned to work from maternity leave part time before her position was also made redundant.

After she gave birth she was stood down during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 while working four days per week, before she received an email that alerted her to a “notice of termination of your employment by reason of redundancy”.

“You don’t realise how toxic and unhappy you are until you are taken out of that situation,” she said.

Another ex-staff member, a senior human resources employee, said: “Generally the culture there was very much Devil Wears Prada, you have to be in 150 per cent or you’re out.”

Both recalled an egg-freezing seminar that was hosted by the company in 2017. The ex-staff member who was made redundant said she “didn’t think that that was the thing to do in an office environment”, and the ex-HR employee said: “I think it was pretty clear it was really about … your career at Mecca, not just career general.”

A Mecca spokeswoman has previously told The Australian the egg-freezing seminar was held more than seven years ago, after a team member requested an information session on fertility health, including IVF and freezing of eggs.

On workplace culture, she said “we have a high-performance, customer-orientated work culture” and of 58 roles made redundant over the past four years, five people were on maternity leave.

Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Mia Pantechis said allegations of discrimination towards women while they are pregnant, when they are on parental leave or after they return to work are “all too frequent”.

“The law contemplates that genuine restructures and redundancies can occur during a period of parental leave. And things can change, particularly where an employee is absent from work for, you know, 12 to 24 months in some instances,” she said.

“However, what’s unlawful is if they are targeted in that process. If they are singled out, or the parental leave is used as a reason to restructure and get rid of them at that point in time.”

Despite the allegations raised by Ms Larkin and other former employees, branding expert and former marketing professor Mark Ritson said there will be “zero impact” on consumer shopping behaviour at Mecca.

“Most purchases driven by salience. The first brand that comes to mind is the brand that wins. For those reasons consumers are much less sensitive than we have portrayed them to be,” he said.

“It ain’t gonna hurt them one dot. What will hurt Mecca is if they lose their salience. All they (consumers) care about is do they have my lispotick at the right price.”