On the topic of workplace bullying, we thought now was an opportune moment to revisit the allegations made by former Clayton Utz staffer Bridgette Styles against the firm.
According to the AFR:
Court papers filed by Styles allege that another lawyer in the firm Mr Luis Izzo made disparaging comments to her at work functions, as well as to other employees. After this, she says she was harassed by other employees about Mr Izzo, and approached Mr Izzo saying she intended to inform the partner in charge of the workplace relations group… Ms Styles says that Mr Izzo prepared a file note of the conversation, to which she prepared a reply.
The day after she provided her response, she was escorted out of the office by human resources and directed not to attend work until after the investigation. She says human resources … told her that Mr Izzo was not suspended.
A week later Ms Styles says she was told that the firm had investigated the complaint and determined there was no sexual harassment. In the same conversation she says she was told there were issues with her performance. She was handed a letter to that effect. Shortly after, she complained to David Fagan, the firm’s chief executive saying Mr Izzo’s original file note was false and that the investigation into her conduct was not conducted properly. Several days later she received a letter saying the firm was satisfied with the conduct of the investigation. The next day it terminated her employment.
The anonymous Clayton Utz spy who sent us a scanned copy of the above article asking us to revisit it, also made the following comments:
I think it’s about time the big law firms realised they aren’t above the law. It takes a very brave person to stand up to a top tier firm and I applaud Bridgette for sticking up for herself. For every one of Bridgette, I can guarantee there are at least 99 others who are too scared to do something about the treatment they receive as young female lawyers (myself included) because they can’t afford to commit career suicide.
We agree. Hence our vote in favour of criminalising workplace bullying.
In other news, we received the following funny submission from an anonymous Clayton Utz spy the other day:
Not sure if this quite reaches the threshold of newsworthy, but I know you guys like to bash Clutz. Imagine my surprise to see this: http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/3931/clutzgoogleads.jpg
As you will see, the link leads to the following incredibly persuasive Google advertising grab:
Perhaps even more hilarious than the reminder that Clayton Utz is indeed a law firm is the fact that google’s gmail advertisments use the contents of your inbox (among other things) to determine relevant advertising. As you will observe, the first email in the person’s inbox states:
$25 – Your’s for the Taking! … We (Still) Need Your Help
Ladies and gentlement, Clayton Utz is open for business!
Will you take your mates along for some legal advice?
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If this is true it is appalling…. but obviously Mr Izzo has more friends in management ranks than Styles does. In retrospect she shouldn’t have warned him about putting in a complaint.