Amber Harrison, the executive assistant who had an affair with Seven West Media's chief executive, is suing the company under the workplace law for initiating an investigation into her corporate expenses claims 16 days after the relationship ended.
In a lawsuit filed in the Federal Court, Ms Harrison accuses Seven of taking steps that threatened her employment after she complained to Tim Worner, the chief executive, that their affair was causing her to experience helplessness, shame, anxiety and panic attacks.
Details of how the affair upset Ms Harrison are spelled out in a confidential annexure to the lawsuit, which will likely spare the company and the married Mr Worner some embarrassment. She has previously said that she got upset when Mr Worner ignored her at Seven's Sydney offices.
In what is known as an "adverse action" claim, Ms Harrison's lawyers argue that she was punished when she raised legitimate concerns with the man she was sleeping with about how the affair was affecting her work performance and her mental health.
Mr Worner wasn't Ms Harrison's boss. She reported to Nick Chan, the head of Pacific Magazines, which publishes Men's Health and other titles. The affair ended in June 2014.
Adverse action
The Fair Work Act provides strong protections to employees who raise concerns about the workplace, including threats to their physical or mental health. In some cases the law reverses onus of proof by requiring companies to show they didn't take action against an employee.
On the day Seven began an internal investigation into her expenses, Mr Chan told Ms Harrison that the matter was serious and she could resign, receive two month's pay and her departure would be put down to personal reasons, according to the lawsuit. She was suspended that day.
"Chan's conduct in the meetings of 11 July 2014 (the Chan Conduct) constituted adverse action taken by Seven Network against Harrison," the lawsuit says.
"By Chan attempting to procure Harrison's resignation, Harrison was exposed to loss of support from her employer and her employment was commensurately made less secure."
Mr Chan, who now works at magazine publisher Bauer Media, didn't immediately respond to an email. Nor did a spokesman for Seven.
Deloitte investigation
After conducting its own investigation, Seven hired Deloitte to review Ms Harrison's expenses claims. Deloitte found about $250,000 in questionable expenses.
The objective of the investigation was to stop her "exercising her workplace right to make a complaint to a person or body having the capacity under a workplace law to seek compliance with that law or a workplace instrument," the lawsuit says.
Ms Harrison has acknowledged to journalists not all her expenses were legitimate but said Seven exaggerated the extent of any abuse.
The lawsuit brought by Ms Harrison's lawyers at Patron Legal could put Seven on the defensive in what has become one of the highest-profile corporate court cases in years.
Until now, the case has been about Seven's attempts to stop Ms Harrison speaking to journalists or putting more personal information about her relationship with Mr Worner on social media.
A NSW Supreme Court judge initially sided with Seven, which argued that Ms Harrison had a contractual obligation to stay quiet after she was offered $350,000 to leave Seven. He imposed a temporary gag order on the 39-year-old, which remains in place.
As the focus of the dispute shifts onto the alleged breaches by Seven of the Fair Work Act, Harrison's lawyers, including celebrity barrister Julian Burnside, want the case moved to the Federal Court. They are seeking unspecified compensation.
