Ms Burgess’ application alleges unlawful discrimination and workplace bullying by a Corrs HR manager and includes a prayer for relief in the order of $500,000. That’s right – half a mil! In the last week, most of our readers will have seen the massive media coverage of the Styles v Clayton Utz saga. The AFR today referred to it as “Clutz’s lingering PR Headache” and wrote about the lengths the firm has gone to in an effort to keep the matter out of the public eye. At the opening of the trial, one of the barristers representing Clutz asked for a non-publication order, also requesting that the whole Styles v Clutz trial be held in closed court.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that the Corrs PR machine is warming its engines. Here is a comment we received yesterday:
The “guilty until proven innocent” aspect of this website is slightly ironic, for a bunch of lawyers. There’s a lot of bashing of anyone who doesn’t toe the “lawyers good, firms bad” line.
Ok, I work at Corrs, but it’s odd to me that a claim is made for bullying by an HR staffer without any reference to the actions of the partners and lawyers who supervised the grad in question. HR can be irritating, at times obnoxious, generally unhelpful, aligned with partners’ rather than staff’s interests, but bullying to the point of forcing stress leave? How?
I’ll try to keep an open mind, but on the available facts I’m slightly doubtful as to whether this case has got legs. If Corrs thought it had merit, I’m pretty sure they would have paid for it to go away…
Guilty until proven innocent line? Not really, comrade, we just know what law firms are like to work at. They’re probably all guilty of something. But to prove we’re reasonable, here’s another comment we received which we could have declined to publish if we were truly as partisan in these matters as you allege:
Before you are too quick to jump on Corrs, Ms Burgess has form. She previously worked for and sued another Brisbane law firm (Porter Davies). Apparently, they paid her about $4k just to go away. In that matter she had two complaints. Firstly, that the other secretaries were ‘whispering’ about her and that the partners did nothing to stop it. Secondly, that she overhead two male solicitors talking in one of their offices (through a closed door) and was offended by the content of the conversation. Sounds to me just like another blatant grab for cash. Now that it has hit the papers, I can’t see Corrs has anything left to gain by settling. I foresee a brutal litigation trench war.
We foresee more Fairfax newspaper articles. We also foresee less junior corporate workers standing for the workplace treatment of yesteryear.
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The number of bullying and harassment claims brought is just the tip of the iceberg. Life in a lot of firms is tough and most people who are bullied eventually leave without pursuing a claim.
sounds like burgess needs a teaspoon of concrete
“The Corrs PR machine is warming its engines”.
Frankly, that’s bullshit. I wrote the original comment. I have nothing to do with the “Corrs PR machine” and I’ve got as many gripes about Corrs as the average lawyer does about their firm. I’m just not sure that this case has legs, because the facts known to me seem so unlikely.
To assume that any view which doesn’t damn the firm and support the individual in every circumstance is obviously part of the “PR machine” shows exactly why you are as partisan as you deny. Just because “they’re probably all guilty of something” doesn’t mean that they’re guilty of everything, every time.
@ bemused
perhaps we should leave it to the court to decide?
I attended university with Louise and I honestly believe her allegations to be true. Louise is not money hungry, not attention seeking nor one to make a frivolous accusation. There are many unfounded discrimination allegations out there, Louise’s however is not.
I know other people who worked there & have now left who say it was a horrible place to work with plenty of bullying & unhappy staff etc. It was the reason they left!