Top interior designer Fiona Lynch sued over ‘toxic’ workplace
One of Australia’s most esteemed interior designers, Fiona Lynch, has become embroiled in a legal spat with a senior designer over a public argument in which he told her she was ‘f..king toxic’.
One of Australia’s most esteemed interior designers has become embroiled in a legal spat with a senior designer who claims she runs a hostile workplace, engages in threatening behaviour and forced him to work late nights with no lunch break.
In extraordinary court documents obtained exclusively by The Australian, multi award-winning designer Fiona Lynch was allegedly wrapped up in a public commotion in which the designer, Timothy Quirk, yelled at her “everyone hates you” and called her “f..king toxic”.
Ms Lynch, who is responsible for designing the new Parramatta Powerhouse Museum and has the National Gallery of Victoria as a client, says the incident – which ultimately resulted in the termination of Mr Quirk’s employment – left her emotionally distressed and caused her to break down in tears.
Mr Quirk filed a Federal Court claim in November last year, alleging he was sacked from his $130,000 role as senior designer at Ms Lynch’s high-profile interior design firm, Fiona Lynch Office, because he made multiple complaints about the inappropriate work environment.
In a statement of claim, Mr Quirk – who also goes by the name Timothy Dalton-Thomas – said he first made a complaint about the firm directly to Ms Lynch via iMessage on July 18 last year after he became stressed because she moved “forward a deadline without prior communication”.
The following day, he made a second complaint directly to Ms Lynch while they were together at the Commons Cafe in Collingwood about her creating a “stressful work environment”.
He alleges he told Ms Lynch about the “extreme stress caused by the need to work late nights with no lunch breaks” in order to meet tight deadlines.
A third complaint was made on August 21 last year, according to the statement of claim, in the lobby of the building of the Fiona Lynch Interior Design offices.
Mr Quirk alleges Ms Lynch told him that “if you don’t like it here, then leave” – which Ms Lynch denies – after he complained she had created a “toxic and hostile atmosphere”.
Later that night, he claims he emailed human resources saying: “My recent interactions with Fiona and my observations of her treatment of both current and former staff members have led me to believe that professional mediation with an external party is necessary.”
Ms Lynch denies creating a hostile work environment or treating staff poorly.
In her defence documents, filed to the Federal Court, she alleges Mr Quirk acted inappropriately during their conversation on August 21.
She claims she had informed Mr Quirk of his “unsatisfactory work performance”, including failure to complete work on time in relation to construction of the multi-residential Saint David building in Fitzroy.
Ms Lynch alleges, in response to the feedback, Mr Quirk “became highly agitated and slammed his coffee cup on the table multiple times” – a claim Mr Quirk denies. She says she moved the conversation to the lobby of the building to “avoid disrupting or upsetting other employees”.
Mr Quirk began “yelling” at her, “abusing and threatening her, saying ‘how f..king dare you accuse me of not doing my job’; and also that ‘everyone hates you’”, according to Ms Lynch’s defence.
Ms Lynch – who claims she is considerably shorter and smaller than Mr Quirk – alleges Mr Quirk told her he “couldn’t wait to leave” and began swearing at her and calling her “f..king toxic”.
“(Mr Quirk) engaged in physically threatening conduct by aggressively standing over her, pointing and approaching her in a threatening manner while continuing to abuse her,” the defence reads.
Mr Quirk denies Ms Lynch is physically smaller than him, and says “he is of average height and slim build”. In a reply filed to the court, he denies acting aggressively and claims it was Ms Lynch who engaged in threatening behaviour towards him due to her “physical demeanour, her level of anger and aggression, the fact that she had moved the conversation outside, her age, and the power imbalance between them”.
He alleges Ms Lynch said to him “you’re actually being so toxic right now” to which he responded: “No, you’re being toxic.”
“He denies that he caused (Ms Lynch) to feel distressed or to break down in tears, as alleged, and states that if she did so, it was due to a realisation that she had badly mishandled a legitimate complaint which had been made by (Mr Quirk),” the reply reads.
Mr Quirk claims he made three more complaints to HR on August 22 after the incident in the lobby, alleging Ms Lynch engaged in “inappropriate behaviour”.
He attended a meeting with Ms Lynch and the HR representative on August 26 at which his employment was terminated.
Mr Quirk claims he suffered pain, stress and anxiety as a result of his dismissal, as well as loss of employment security and damage to employment prospects.
He is seeking compensation, damages and costs.
Ms Lynch’s firm won Interior Designer of the Year at the Belle/Fanuli Interior Design Awards last year, as well as Best Residential Kitchen Design and Interior Designer of the Year at the Vogue Living 50 ceremony. In 2023, the firm won the Eat Drink Design Awards’ Best Restaurant Design for Kiln at Sydney’s Ace Hotel.
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