Super Retail still waiting to be served documents relating to lawsuit threats

Months after lawyers threatened Super Retail with a multi-million dollar workplace lawsuit including wild allegations about executive behaviour, the case has gone silent.

Super Retail CEO Anthony Heraghty, in a Rebel store. Picture: Jane Dempster

Shopping giant Super Retail Group is still yet to receive any legal notification of a workplace lawsuit threatened by lawyers for aggrieved executives almost two months ago, raising hopes within the company the lawsuit won’t stack up, is frivolous and could have even been abandoned.

It was in late April that specialist workplace law firm Harmers Workplace Lawyers threatened the retailer with a long list of grievances from several anonymous employees, including allegations of a secret affair between the chief executive and the company’s chief human resources officer, leaving Super Retail bracing for legal action and court documents to be served.

However, no legal documents have been served on the company and a check of court records by The Australian shows no evidence of a case being lodged and Harmers did not respond to questions from The Australian about any progress of the claims.

The silence has left Super Retail and its lawyers perplexed and although still prepared for a legal battle should it eventuate, the threats of courtroom action and tens of millions of dollars in compensation and costs seems to have dissipated.

In late April Super Retail Group, whose retail banners include Rebel, BCF, Supercheap Auto and Macpac, shocked the market with news it was facing a $30m-$50m legal claim from a number of female executives making a range of workplace behaviour allegations including that chief executive Anthony Heraghty was engaged in a ­secret affair with his human ­resources chief, Jane Kelly.

The company, which is one of Australia’s biggest retailers with annual revenues of almost $4bn, faced a scattergun of claims. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Involved in protracted legal talks for months before the stunning admission was made to the ASX, Super Retail decided on a pre-emptive strike to make public the serious allegations made against its CEO and improper workplace issues at the retail, believing that the claims were baseless and that it was a ‘shake down’ by lawyers.

The company, which is one of Australia’s biggest retailers with annual revenues of almost $4bn, faced a scattergun of other claims by at least two unnamed individuals working in its corporate team.

They included inappropriate company travel, bullying, victimisation, restrictive access to information, poor record keeping and excessive workloads.

But the most sensational allegation made by lawyers acting for the aggrieved staff - who are still believed to be working for Super Retail - was that Mr Heraghty was having an undisclosed intimate relationship with Ms Kelly.

Super Retail said at the time in April an external investigation launched in December had cleared Mr ­Heraghty and Ms Kelly of having an affair and any claims of ­bullying.

Ms Kelly left Super ­Retail in November after seven years in the role as chief of human resources and is believed not to be one of the executives making the allegations

The board of Super Retail Group is backing its CEO Anthony Heraghty (pictured) as it awaits the serving of legal documents from a law firm claiming improper workplace behaviour at the retailer’s Brisbane HQ. Picture: Paul Harris

In a statement to the ASX two months ago, the retailer said it was trying to ­determine if Harmers had lodged documents, including a statement of claim or served the company with court papers, in the wake of its stunning, but as yet ­unproven, allegations about ­behaviour at the Super ­Retail head office in Strathpine in Brisbane.

“The group expects the ­employees to jointly claim loss and damage in the range of $30m to $50m,” the ASX statement said. “Super Retail Group will defend any court proceedings in relation to the allegations.”

Later it was revealed Harmers, a specialist workplace firm that over the past decade has carved out a niche in certain areas of industrial relations including around sexual harassment, had engaged in mediation talks as it sought losses and damages on behalf of its clients that could be worth $30m to $50m.

Those mediation talks later failed, with offers of a settlement raised by the company but not accepted.

After Super Retail went public with the crisis, denying the claims, Harmers made the claim that an external informant had come forward with new details of the alleged affair between Mr Heraghty and Ms Kelly, claiming also that the Super Retail board were aware of the secret relationship as far back as ­December last year.

Harmers said it had proof the alleged undisclosed intimate relationship did exist, but have not detailed what that proof is.

It said that a third party, not connected to Super Retail, had now come forward with “key evidence” of the undisclosed affair which it has put to the retailer.

The law firm said in its statement in late April it had offered to confidentially settle the matter for sums less than one third of the dollar amounts in the initial Super Retail announcement – indicating a settlement of around $10m. Mediation talks failed to resolve the issue, however, with Super Retail standing by its CEO and denying the damaging workplace claims.