Former Super Retail chair Sally Pitkin denies whistleblower claims
Former Super Retail chair Sally Pitkin for the first time has officially personally denied the string of scandalous and salacious allegations made against her by twin whistleblowers, adding a new twist to the corporate saga.
Former Super Retail Group chair Sally Pitkin has denied allegations she covered up bullying accusations, withheld crucial documents, undermined whistleblowers or that she interfered in the reporting of allegations around an alleged illicit affair between its chief executive and its then head of human resources.
Ms Pitkin has also denied that the board she led attempted to marginalise whistleblowers or was part of any public campaign against them in the press, as the long-running corporate and legal saga snakes through the courts.
In her first official statement on the workplace and bullying scandal that has engulfed the retailer, Ms Pitkin has also denied she informed senior management at a meeting that CEO Anthony Heraghty and former head of HR Jane Kelly (who left the business in late 2023) had subsequently started an “intimate relationship” in January 2024 and that the CEO had been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Fresh court documents lodged by Ms Pitkin’s lawyers with the Federal Court on Tuesday, and obtained by The Australian, deny the key and most damaging facts around the scandal and court case that have gripped Super Retail, which owns the Supercheap Auto, Rebel, Macpac and BCF chains.
At the heart of the whistleblowers’ case – launched last year – is that the illicit affair between the CEO and head of HR was over a long period of time kept secret, ignored or covered up, and was a cause of a toxic work environment.
Super Retail has consistently denied from the outset an affair took place between Mr Heraghty and Ms Kelly.
Ms Pitkin, who stepped down from Super Retail at last year’s annual general meeting, has issued her own defence statement in the Federal Court as part of the ongoing workplace litigation launched by former Super Retail senior executives Rebecca Farrell and Amelia Berczelly. Since leaving the company, Ms Pitkin has retained separate counsel and is represented by Arnold Bloch Leibler.
Her defence and strong denials of any wrongdoing while chair of Super Retail follow the retailer lodging its defence statement last week, which similarly refuted allegations by the twin whistleblowers and, furthermore, claimed one of the whistleblowers, Ms Farrell, was herself the subject of bullying allegations that led to a workers’ compensation claim.
Ms Pitkin was thrown into the maelstrom of the sensational claims and counter claims at the centre of the Super Retail court case in April 2024 – including allegations of an illicit affair and marginalising and undermining whistleblower complaints – made by Ms Farrell and Ms Berczelly. Ms Farrell was the former legal boss for Super Retail and Ms Berczelly its company co-secretary, making them the most senior female executives in the company.
Former Super Retail chair Ms Pitkin was accused in previous court documents of a scandalous string of corporate governance failures such as allowing a “significantly compromised” whistleblower system, and that Ms Pitkin and another board member tried to suppress staff complaints of the alleged affair between its CEO and former HR boss that also saw emails and board minutes deleted or withheld.
However, in a 16-page statement of defence Ms Pitkin has denied the allegations, and has also argued that Super Retail had the right to “immediately” terminate Ms Farrell for “serious misconduct”. Following allegations of misconduct, bullying and a toxic work environment, and a series of failed mediation talks between Super Retail and the whistleblowers’ lawyers that led to the dispute going public, Ms Farrell and Ms Berczelly were both sacked in May 2024.
“Super Retail could terminate the applicant’s (Ms Farrell’s) employment immediately for serious misconduct without any obligation to provide notice or any payment of compensation to the applicant,” Ms Pitkin’s statement said.
In terms of the allegations of an alleged clandestine affair between Mr Heraghty and Ms Kelly while she was still employed as head of HR by Super Retail, Ms Pitkin has denied the allegation that at a meeting in late April 2024 she briefed the executive leadership team that the CEO and Ms Kelly were in a relationship since January of that year.
Ms Pitkin denied the allegation she said at that meeting that “Heraghty had been cleared of any wrongdoing” and that at the meeting managers were told the CEO had no involvement in a redundancy and exit package for Ms Kelly when she left the business.
Ms Pitkin has denied she participated in marginalising conduct towards the whistleblowers in terms of denial and/or unreasonable delayed access to board papers, personally engaged in conduct that excluded or restricted the whistleblowers from advising the board, or otherwise contributing to board discussion around the allegations of a toxic workplace at Super Retail.
Last week Super Retail lodged its defence documents, claiming former executive turned whistleblower Ms Farrell had told her former human resources boss, Ms Kelly, in October 2023 that she didn’t believe rumours of an affair between Ms Kelly and Super Retail CEO Mr Heraghty, nor was the gossip widespread. The claim, contained in Super Retail’s long-awaited defence filed in Federal Court, is inconsistent with Ms Farrell’s account in her own statement of claim that the alleged illicit affair was indeed well-known and the knowledge of it was widespread within senior executive ranks.
Ms Farrell and Ms Berczelly have previously argued in court documents that Mr Heraghty’s then wife knew of the alleged affair, that it poisoned the air at Super Retail, and that other senior Super Retail executives felt they couldn’t complain about Ms Kelly’s alleged bullying behaviour because of her alleged romantic relationship with the CEO.
In one claim, Ms Berczelly alleges she observed Mr Heraghty and Ms Kelly enter the lobby of Brisbane hotel The Calile together in June 2023.
“Heraghty and Kelly had acted in a manner that was very suspicious and suggestive that they were engaged in an intimate or personal relationship that had not been disclosed to the board,” the court filings alleged.
As well, during a leadership meeting offsite in August 2022 in the NSW suburb of Manly, a staff member allegedly witnessed a moment of physical intimacy between the pair.
“(A staff member) had observed Heraghty resting his hand on Kelly’s thigh while the (executive leadership team) were drinking at a bar,” the court documents alleged. That staff member was Paul Bradshaw, managing director of BCF.
The case is continuing.
Originally published as Former Super Retail chair Sally Pitkin denies whistleblower claims
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