Legal sources claim that the outgoing Slater+Gordon executive who claimed she has been falsely accused of sending an email containing sensitive information about salaries to staff has a strong case if she follows through with legal action. Plus, according to legal sources, she has a pretty solid case.
According to The Australian, former Slater+Gordon interim chief people officer Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen is upset that she was made out to be “the sacrificial lamb” for the email scandal after she failed to quickly note that she was not involved.
Since then, Ruiz-Matthyssen has publicly denied that she was involved in sending what has been described as a “hoax” email, which contained an attached document containing the salaries of more than 900 employees.
According to legal sources speaking to The Australian, Ruiz-Matthyssen potentially has a strong case against the law firm.
“They allowed this to get out of hand,” the legal insider claimed.
“Basic due diligence wasn’t done before they threw someone under the bus. Her reputation had been all but destroyed by the end of Friday morning.”
Senior council barrister and employment law specialist Jeffrey Phillips suggested legal action could be potentially brought on under negligence and/or breach of contract.
“It could be negligent if there was something in Slater+Gordon systems which permitted this to happen, if there was some error or fault in their systems, which permitted a malign player to gain access to the emails of everybody in the firm,” he told the publication.
“Perhaps if there’s something about privacy, confidentiality in her contract of employment,” he said, referencing the possibility of a breach of contract claim.
According to The Australian, at least one other legal firm has been contacted by Slater+Gordon employees seeking advice about taking personal injury action against the firm in the aftermath of the leak. However, a report in the Australian Financial Review claimed that “only a handful of senior executives” would have been able to access the spreadsheet containing the pay information.
On Friday, February 21, a rogue email containing staff salaries, performance ratings and criticisms was sent out to Slater+Gordon employees.
The email was purported to be sent by Ruiz-Matthyssen but was quickly referred to Victoria Police, it was alleged that Ruiz-Matthyssen had sent the email.
In a statement, Slater+Gordon CEO Dina Tutungi referred to the email as “malicious” and explained that the email was sent by someone impersonating a staff member.
As per the Australian Financial Review, Tutungi confirmed that the company was taking serious steps to investigate who sent the email. These steps reportedly included “calling in the police, contacting clients and former staff about the matter, and organising for external HR representatives to talk to any staff upset about their relative pay”.
On Monday, February 24, Ruiz-Matthysen broke her silence to deny that she sent the email. She also claimed that the scandal had caused “immeasurable damage and distress”.
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