First the tax scandal, now PwC faces bullying allegations
A former PwC senior associate alleges she was bullied at work by another senior staff member in the diversity and inclusion team, and had lodged formal complaints about it before being unfairly dismissed.
Jane Langley has claimed her position of people and culture senior associate was made redundant in November last year because she raised concerns about “significant and repeated bullying” with management, including with Qantas’ new chief people officer Catherine Walsh who worked in the same role for PwC for four years prior to January.
About 330 jobs were slashed in November amid fallout from a global tax scandal that in July last year forced the company to sell its public sector consulting arm for $1 after the firm leaked secret government tax plans to companies.
Ms Langley’s allegations are made against PricewaterhouseCoopers, listed as the first respondent, and diversity and inclusion team leader Andrew Tran, who is listed at the second respondent.
The documents were lodged with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia on Thursday.
A PwC spokesman declined to comment and said the firm had not received notice of any filings.
In court documents seen by The Australian, Ms Langley alleged that from 2020, while working in the diversity, inclusion and wellbeing team, she “experienced what can reasonably be described as ‘an awful time at work’ with her direct supervisor, the second respondent, behaving in a way that would constitute significant and repeated bullying” the court documents read.
She said this included “aggressive behaviour, undermining employees’ opinions and a lack of regard for team members subject matter expertise”.
In July 2022, a formal HR investigation started to “evaluate” the team she was working in, the court documents said.
“During the process, the applicant and several other employees raised serious concerns about the bullying behaviour of the second respondent,” they read.
The woman said she reported the allegations to wellbeing manager Tomas Castner and filed an official complaint, according to the documents.
In October 2022, Ms Langley alerted PwC’s then chief people officer, Catherine Walsh to her allegations, according to her application.
“The applicant complained about the drawn-out process of the investigation into the complaints raised … and lack of information being provided to herself and the other complainants,” the court documents read.
When Ms Langley asked “how much longer does the team have to be subject to a protracted investigation process” she claimed Ms Walsh responded to the effect: “We need to take our time and make sure we get this right, it’s someone’s livelihood at risk,” the documents say.
Then, after March last year, Ms Langley claimed she raised “multiple concerns” with Kate Farrington – the acting director of PwC’s Wellbeing, Health and Safety team.
They included raising concerns about the “mishandling” of her initial complaint which she said had impacted her “self-confidence and mental wellbeing”.
As well, Ms Langley said it was acknowledged in her April 2023 performance review “the detrimental effect on her health caused by the events that transpired within her team over the past year”.
She goes on to claim she raised the issue with her new team leader, Lily Tran, in September 2023 and a further conversation with another wellbeing, health and safety director, Dani Odd, in October last year.
Ms Langley alleged she then received a termination letter in November last year that said amid a new structure, “the people and culture senior associate role is no longer required” and was made redundant on the 17th.
Ms Langley was first employed at PwC in 2007 as an executive assistant and in 2012 was promoted to the position of “partner development consultant” in the Human Resources department.
Ms Langley’s claim does not provide specific examples of Mr Tran’s alleged behaviour towards her. The matter is listed for hearing in August.
