Netflix to face court action over redundancy of maternity leave employee
A Sydney Netflix marketing officer has launched court action against the streaming giant after her role was made redundant while she was on maternity leave.
A senior Netflix marketing officer who previously worked at tech darling Canva has launched court action against the streaming giant after her role was made redundant while on maternity leave.
Film and series marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand, Vanessa Hughes, lodged a breach of general protections dispute against her employer, Netflix Australia Pty Ltd, in the Federal Court.
Sydney based Ms Hughes has worked at the popular streaming platform for two years and 10 months full-time, and has previously worked at Canva, Booking.com and Tourism Australia, according to her LinkedIn profile.
At Netflix, Ms Hughes says her work on the Australian and New Zealand campaign for the global launch of hit television show Stranger Things and Korean thriller Squid Game won the company awards.
Her profile also reports she worked on the promotion of Australian-made programs Boy Swallows Universe and Heartbreak High.
“I have an award-winning track record of creating impactful, world-class creative campaigns within cutting-edge tech and entertainment companies,” she said on social media.
“I have 14 years experience managing global teams and multimillion-dollar creative and media campaigns. My background is in creative strategy, media planning, partnerships, events, social media and public relations.
“I have worked both client-side and within agencies for the B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) environments in Sydney, London and Amsterdam.”
At Canva, Ms Hughes said she was appointed as the global lead of social strategy between October 2020 and August 2021 and at Tourism Australia she worked as the company’s global creative producer four months in 2020.
It is understood her role at Netflix has been made redundant while she is on maternity leave, and she technically remains employed.
The first hearing in the matter is scheduled to take place on Friday, after Ms Hughes first lodged her fair work case in late March.
Her lawyers, Maurice Blackburn, declined to comment. A spokesman for Netflix and their lawyers, Baker McKenzie, also declined to comment on Wednesday.
It is unclear if Ms Hughes’ team was restructured, which may have resulted in her position being made redundant, or if other circumstances lead to the development.
Maurice Blackburn and Netflix declined to respond to questions regarding how much notice Ms Hughes received about the change to her employment position, or how she was alerted to it.
It is also unclear if she was offered any redeployment opportunities.
The Australian has not received unrestricted documents in the matter, including Ms Hughes originating application or concise statement, despite applying for them approximately three months ago.
Netflix’s publicly available work/life policy reports the company’s benefits “exist to support the needs of our employees during moments that matter by offering benefits that enhance productivity through the lens of inclusion”.
On parental leave, the company says new parents generally take four to eight months off work.
“We recognise that one of the most special events in an individual’s life is the birth or adoption of a child,” the policy reads.
“Our parental leave policy is: ‘take care of your baby and yourself’.”
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, if an employer decides to make “significant” changes to an employee’s job — such as to their responsibilities, pay or location — while they are on unpaid parental leave, they must discuss the changes and give the employee an opportunity to talk about them even if they are on leave.
“All awards and registered agreements have a consultation process for when there are major changes to the workplace, such as redundancies,” their website reads.
The process must start as soon as possible after a decision is made to make changes to a business likely to result in redundancies.
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