The owner of Rebel sports stores knew of an alleged secret relationship between his chief executive and his human resources chief months before it was acknowledged, lawyers claimed.
Rebel is part of shopping giant Super Retail Group, which also includes Supercheap Auto, adventure clothing brand Macpac and outdoor specialist BCF.
Two top executives are preparing to file a potential $50 million lawsuit against the conglomerate over allegations of bullying and mismanagement.
Their lawyers claim to have explosive evidence of an undisclosed union between chief executive Anthony Heraghty and HR chief Jane Kelly.
Super Retail Group has denied Heraghty had a clandestine relationship with Kelly, who left the business in November 2023 after more than seven years.
WhatsNew2Day Australia understands Heraghty and Kelly are separated from their respective spouses and both have children from those marriages.
The alleged relationship became public when Super Retail Group made a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on April 26.
Shopping giant Super Retail Group knew of an alleged secret relationship between chief executive Anthony Heraghty (above) and human resources chief Jane Kelly months before it was acknowledged, according to lawyers acting on a potential $50 million lawsuit. of dollars.
The company revealed that the two executives, neither of whom is Ms Kelly, were launching their legal action with a claim for losses and damages of between $30 million and $50 million.
Brisbane-based Super Retail Group has annual sales of $3.8 billion and Heraghty received a total remuneration package of $4.15 million last year.
Harmers Workplace Lawyers revealed on Monday that it was now representing four clients who had raised allegations of mismanagement at Super Retail Group.
According to Super Retail Group, those claims include bullying, victimization, adverse treatment, unreasonable workloads and insufficient resources, and inappropriate business travel practices.
Super Retail Group said its board had hired independent outside advisers to investigate the claims – including the alleged covert affair – and found none to be true.
The company would defend any legal proceedings in relation to the allegations and update the ASX of any developments.
“As these matters are expected to be litigated, the group does not intend to comment further at this time,” it said.
Harmers said he had been approached by more current and former employees who had similar concerns about Super Retail Group following its announcement to the ASX.
Super Retail Group has denied that chief executive Andrew Heraghty had a clandestine relationship with HR boss Jane Kelly (above), who left the business in November 2023 after more than seven years.
“We are confident that other current and former SRG staff will support our customers’ claims,” a statement from Harmers said.
A person not associated with Super Retail Group had presented “key evidence” about the relationship between Heraghty and Kelly, the statement said.
The Australian newspaper cited an anonymous source close to Super Retail Group management who described the potential claim as “like blackmail or extortion.”
Harmers said his clients had offered to confidentially settle the matter for less than a third of the amount anticipated by State Retail Group: between $10 million and $16 million.
“SRG is well aware that this is not ‘extortion’, but rather a justifiable legal claim for damages, which has been deliberately misrepresented,” he said.
“SRG’s Board of Directors has allegedly known about the relationship since December 2023, despite SRG’s strident denials of that very relationship until as recently as this month.”
Harmers said Super Retail Group seemed “exclusively focused” on claims about a relationship between Heraghty and Kelly, but that was just one aspect of the alleged governance issues.
“For clarity, SRG this month denied the existence of any type of relationship,” he said.
Rebel is part of Queensland-based retail giant Super Retail Group, which also includes Supercheap Auto, leisure clothing and equipment brand Macpac and outdoor specialist BCF.
“When Harmers pointed out that it had clear evidence of an intimate relationship and therefore a significant undeclared conflict of interest, SRG’s position immediately changed.”
Harmers claimed that after Super Retail Group made its ASX announcement he told some employees there had been a relationship between Heraghty and Kelly since January this year.
“However, even after that date, this relationship entails significant conflicts of interest,” he said.
Harmers said one of its clients had made a complaint about “the long-term existence of the relationship and its impact on governance issues” in November last year.
The complaint, lodged on Super Retail Group’s internal whistleblowing platform Whispli, was sent to human resources management reporting directly to Ms Kelly, Harmers said.
A person not associated with Super Retail Group had presented “key evidence” about the relationship between Heraghty and Kelly, according to Harmers Workplace Lawyers.
Super Retail Group’s policy on workplace relationships states that they “are permitted between team members provided there is appropriate disclosure to line management.”
Harmers said two of his clients had in recent months made protected disclosures about their employment at Super Retail Group.
“The ASX announcement on Friday and the subsequent media coverage initiated by SRG amounts to victimizing these whistleblowers and is causing them further harm,” he said.
Kelly joined Super Retail Group as HR Director from BT Financial Group, having previously worked at St George Bank and Westpac.
Heraghty has been chief executive of Super Retail Group for five years following a three-year stint as managing director. He was previously CEO of the Bonds group.
