Nielsen MD Monique Perry sacked, set to sue for unfair dismissal
Monique Perry has been sacked after almost 30 years at Nielsen
Nielsen managing director Monique Perry is set to sue the company for unfair dismissal after the analytics company sacked her in October. Perry had worked with the media measurement firm for nearly 30 years, and was let go after her husband, who also worked at Nielsen, was fired.
The Federal Court this week dismissed Perry’s urgent bid for temporary reinstatement but allowed her broader claims against Nielsen to proceed, her barrister Bilal Rauf confirmed with Mumbrella.
Rauf said that Perry will soon file an unlawful adverse action claim.
Perry’s employment at Nielsen ended on 31 October. She has been a key industry figure over decades, the public face of Nielsen’s audience measurement and a much-consulted commentator on how Australians consume news, sport, and streaming video.
According to a report in Lawyerly, Perry’s husband Ashley McMahon was dismissed from his role as lead data engineer on 17 October ,and launched proceedings against the company at the Fair Work Commission.
Nielsen claims she was terminated after failing to return a company-owned laptop that had been requested as part of the investigation. It also alleged in court that Perry uploaded 13,000 mostly commercially sensitive documents and downloaded 859 of them to her personal iCloud account.
But the decision to terminate Perry was “made in haste” to prevent her from seeking legal advice, Rauf told the judge during the proceedings.
Dismissing Perry’s application, the court found that Nielsen should not be compelled to reinstate her, but also found that there was a serious issue to be tried for unlawful termination.
Perry denied Nielsen’s allegations when contacted by Mumbrella but was unable to comment further,
Shortly after being contacted, she announced her departure on Linkedin, saying: “I’m incredibly proud of the 29 years I represented Nielsen and all the things we achieved. Grateful for the opportunity to lead and integrate businesses, launch new products and innovate old ones. I have loved working with so many brilliant people over the years and I leave behind a high-performing team committed to growth.
“I will say that Pacific has always led the way on innovation with methodology, technology, software, data and AI and that is thanks to the unique sophistication of clients in this region who are always challenging us to the highest standards.”
Nielsen was unable to comment when contacted by Mumbrella.
