TechnologyOne accused of bullying, again

A former TechnologyOne (ASX:TNE) cloud project manager has filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) against TechOne, Adrian Di Marco and Craig Taylor.

According to a media announcement from Harmers Workplace Lawyers, the former employee, Ana Monteiro, alleges bullying, victimisation and discrimination.

According to the complaint documents, Monteiro alleges that she has been victimised because she made, or tried to make, a complaint about discrimination. 

Harmers Workplace Lawyer also represent Behnam Roohizadegan, who previously filed a $14.8 million legal claim against TechnologyOne, alleging that he was bullied, marginalised and undermined from early 2016 by at least two senior executives.

TechOne has denied Roohizadegan’s claims, with CEO, Edward Chung, saying at the time that the software vendor treats “all staff issues with integrity and fairness”.

“TechnologyOne dismissed Mr Roohizadegan because we had lost faith in his ability to lead the Victorian business, the business had stagnated under his leadership, the low staff morale in his region, there were very serious concerns raised by his team about him; as well as his inability to work with three different managers," Chung said.

“We also deny the claims of bullying. We disagree with Mr Roohizadegan’s account of the matter,” he said.

Roohizadegan’s case against the vendor is scheduled to be heard on 16 April in the Melbourne.

Monteiro joined TechOne in May 2015 as cloud project manager. In 2016 she moved to the cloud transition team reporting to Taylor.

The former employee resigned in November 2017 “as a result of the culture of TechnologyOne” in documents seen by ARN.

In response to ARN’s request for comment  relating to the latest bullying allegations, TechnologyOne’s Chung said: “Harmers’ statement dated February 19 2018, is part of their standard operating procedure to use the media to publish unsubstantiated claims, in order to get companies to settle regardless of the merits of the case."

Chung also said that Harmers is mounting a campaign against the vendor.

“The allegations raised by these individuals were thoroughly and independently investigated at the time, and found to be baseless,” he said.

Monteiro’s claims allege that she reported her concerns to two TechOne HR employees. As a response, Monteiro alleges that in one meeting one of the vendor’s executives used a swear word, later apologising as he had been “instructed to not use swear words around women”.

“We deny all the claims. TechnologyOne treat all staff with integrity and fairness. We have a large and competent HR team to ensure staff are well supported and that this sort of thing is appropriately managed. TechnologyOne is an independently recognised employer of choice,” Chung said

“TechnologyOne views many of the statements made as mischievous, unsupported and emotive. These allegations are just that and are yet to be tested in court. TechnologyOne will be vigorously defending these claims and we remain confident of success,” he added.

Monteiro will be seeking that the AHRC investigate the bullying and sexist culture of TechnologyOne under the leadership and management of Adrian Di Marco.

According to Harmer’s statement, she is also aware of a number of other victims of TechnologyOne bullying, including at least two who have attempted to commit suicide as a result of the alleged bullying culture at TechnologyOne.