Teal MP Monique Ryan ‘threatened to sack Sally Rugg four times in five weeks’

At 8.40am on a Sunday, Teal MP Monique Ryan calls a snap ‘Teams meeting’ for 9am. Sally Rugg’s reaction is at the centre of fresh legal claims.

Teal MP Monique Ryan, left, and Sally Rugg in happier times.

Teal independent MP Monique Ryan threatened to sack Sally Rugg four times in the space of five weeks, prompting her chief of staff to become ‘‘very upset and distressed’’ and left ‘‘in tears’’, new legal documents claim.

The left-wing activist has lodged a fresh statement of claim in the Federal Court setting out the alleged termination threats and detailing a series of tense ­exchanges with the independent member for Kooyong.

The 37-page document lays down a timeline of the deterioration of the Rugg-Ryan working relationship, claiming one of the first flashpoints occurred in an email exchange on September 30 last year.

‘‘Dr Ryan informed Ms Rugg that ‘I feel like we have really dropped the ball on non-Twitter SM (social media)’,’’ Ms Rugg’s statement claims.

‘‘Ms Rugg stated that ‘we are exceptionally short-staffed and the consequence of this is that we’re not able to deliver the volume of work of a full-staffed team … we don’t have a social media manager, we are all doing our best!’’’

Later that day, Dr Ryan allegedly ‘‘informed Ms Rugg that, in her view, Ms Rugg was not working hard enough and kept dropping the ball’’.

Ms Rugg’s document claims Dr Ryan’s first threat to terminate her was on November 15, the second was on November 22, the third threat was on December 12 and the fourth was on December 21.

Ms Rugg details a Sunday morning clash between the pair, after Dr Ryan requested staff ­attend a 9am remote ‘‘Teams’’ meeting with only 20 minutes’ notice.

‘‘Ms Rugg complained that calling a meeting on 20 minutes’ notice on a Sunday morning ‘was not great’ and ‘not necessary’ and not conducive to a good workplace culture,’’ the document states.

On December 6, Dr Ryan is ­alleged to have ‘‘told Ms Rugg that she could not trust Ms Rugg to ­deliver the work required, that Ms Rugg was not working hard enough, and that Ms Rugg did not want to work on weekends’’.

Following the second termination threat, the document claims, Ms Rugg suffered ‘‘acute and ongoing distress, as well as fear and anxiety that her employment would be terminated’’.

Following the fourth, and final termination threat, on December 21, Ms Rugg ‘‘experienced acute distress and anxiety, and fear … she became so distraught that she was unable to continue ­driving’’.

Ms Rugg launched legal action against Dr Ryan and the federal government seeking a declaration that the teal MP was involved in contraventions of the Fair Work Act. She is demanding compensation and pecuniary penalties, and ­acknowledgment that the ­“unreasonable additional hours” constitute a breach of national ­employment standards.

In her statement of claim, ­released by the Federal Court on Monday, Ms Rugg states that while being employed by Dr Ryan between July and December last year, she regularly worked more than 65 hours a week, including weekends. On average, she worked 58 hours a week.

The document reveals she took 17 days of leave – sick, carer’s, ­annual and stress – and one day of public holiday leave.

Ms Rugg’s annual salary was $136,000, which means her hourly rate was $69, according to the document released on Monday.