TBWA Sydney embroiled in legal battle with former employee over bullying and harassment claims

It will be interesting to see how this case goes. If this is an actual case of bullying, I look forward to hearing the outcome and repercussions. It may well open the can of worms that needs to be opened on some CEOs behaviour, that I’ve personally experienced. That said, some people feel genuine performance management is a form of bullying which it isn’t.

I am definitely interested to see how this case turns out. I myself have been a victim of bullying and harassment in agency land, from a well known Sydney agency. I never took it further, as I was too scared to go up against this agency. I do agree with the above comment however – performance management isn’t a form of bullying.

‘Confidential’ info left on a printer. Oh dear. Sounds pretty thin.

Funny how a woman’s working style in an environment where she is (allegedly) being bullied is considered ‘misconduct’. Often the ‘victim’ comes across as the bad guy. I hope this gets fairly tried. I’m not able to say what is right or wrong here but do know the potential here for an unfair outcome. The potential here is that the business with power and resources will make a claim difficult to prove and find a way to turn this on the victim. I hope the right thing gets done here.

I hope others look beyond the immediate behaviour of someone experiencing trauma and accept their behaviour is the result of something deeper a lot of the time. There are professional services that consult on this type of thing and could have been called in before it turned to litigation. Ad agencies need to grow up and work like grown up corporates do and seek training, conflict resolution services, workplace psychologists or Root Cause Analysis specialists. Oh and how about bullies learn how not to be?! Would save everyone a lot of heartache and costs.

I know someone who was relentlessly bullied out of their role by an incoming agency CEO. Years of loyal service and success discarded because the new CEO wanted their captain’s pick.

The Australian legal system is stacked against the employee who has been bullied or treated badly. It’s brilliant to see someone take a stand against bullying when so many haven’t been able to afford to or have been told it’s a fight they can’t win. I wonder if this will open the gates to a lot of other very serious cases of bullying in the Australian ad industry? I hope it does as there are too many in positions of power that shouldn’t be.

Seems timely off the back of the B&T women in media awards.

Hopefully one day they will celebrate not just the great successes of women in media but also women being kind and supportive to juniors and not “having problems with strong women” or alleged bullying and harassment.

To the poster who said they knew of an incoming CEO doing this. I know of the same. They have a history of using below the belt techniques to either make themselves look better or others look bad. This has, at times, meant that the standard of work for the client has suffered. Some clients have been known to be used as a chess piece where the aforementioned CEO has deliberately allowed issues to happen so they can either save the day or put the blame at someone else’s feet. It’s like a firefighter starting their own fires. Now imagine if this same firefighter is then awarded a prize for bravery? (Think about that when CEO’s tend to dominate awards that an agency gets)
I do think HR departments have a greater responsibility to stop this happening. Often an employee is greeted with a shrug of the shoulders as the HR specialist isn’t going to endanger their own relationship with a CEO or MD which is also built upon a position of fear and abuse. They all too often, won’t bite the had that feeds them, despite an admittance of the bullying behaviour and a long list of complaints . This has to stop and if people are going to give out awards for rescuing people out of a burning house – maybe check they didn’t set the house on fire themselves.

Before jumping in with the observation that a woman (Ms Rogers) here is alleging bullying and drawing conclusions based upon gender, it’s worth noting that Nitsa Lotus is also a woman. (This is not made explicit in the article.) Hence, it might as easily be portrayed as a case of someone not being able to cope with being managed by a female rather than male. Probably best to wait for the outcome on this one.

Just because a woman is in a powerful position does not mean it’s always good for women in that workpkace. Many of them in the ad game conform to the worst of male ways. This is looking like one of those cases. Something in the water in Pyrmont.

At one agency I worked at, the HR head happily would enter most culture awards but was afraid to confront the CEO over their aggressive behaviour and bullying. Always felt it was unusual that internally behaviours remained completely unchallenged through the fear the person had of being let go themselves, however for the outside world the awards would be heavily promoted as a signal of the ‘inclusive’ nature of the business.

“I have a problem with strong women.” What the actual F.

Naked ambition meets satisfied intelligence.

190k salary for a planning director.

You lot are getting paid way too much in ad-land for what you actually deliver.

Could name a few women at a few agencies in senior leadership roles whose sole purpose is to crush young, upcoming female talent. Hell, not even upcoming. Just female talent- anyone that carries a perceived threat to their fragile ego.

Interesting how much info has been leaked about this case.

I know Nitsa. I’ve worked with her on and off over the past 15 years. She is someone i see as kind, good and fair. And believe me, i have seen a lot of people on the other side of that equation so I know how to call it . I am wondering if this is just a personality clash? From the subtext they are both strong willed. I don’t know Annabel. She in all likelihoods is a good person too. Sometimes people don’t mix, agency cultures are the wrong fit. Annabel did the right things – brought her concerns to HR, and also looked around and was offered another job. The smart move would have been to take the job at Saatchi’s. Move on and upwards. I have never used a new job offer as a way to trade up. It doesn’t work. It’s like threatening divorce. Things might go on, but cracks begin to form…

I used to work at TBWA – with Nitsa, and I agree with the comment above about her being kind, good and fair. This story makes me feel incredibly sad because legal action is a stressful, traumatic situation for anyone to have to go through, let alone for it to be reported in the media. This will end up being a drawn-out staring contest that will drag on until someone agrees to end it with a big, fat cheque. And at the end of it all, no-one will be right or wrong. So who really wins? The lawyers?