A court case alleging a boy’s club working environment at a major advertising group appears to be nearing settlement.
Carmel Williamson took WPP AUNZ and J Walter Thompson head Paul Everson to the Federal Court alleging unlawful dismissal and seeking compensation running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
She had been the managing director of an internal unit called the Red Team, drawing on resources from across the group to service a major client, Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
She says she was treated differently and less favourably than other business unit and agency heads. They had regular meetings with the then CEO of WPP AUNZ, Mike Connaghan. She did not.
She notes she is female and, at 35 years old, younger than the majority of managing directors of agencies and businesses within the WPP group.
She says she was subject to “unsupportive and undermining behaviour” and wasn’t “part of the boys club or male network”.
Williamson alleges, in a statement of claim, that the staff she was promised by J Walter Thompson for the Red Team didn’t arrive. Of the 11 due to come, only two transferred.
She was given a termination letter August 31, 2018.
The judge in the case, Justice Emmett, in July sent the parties to mediation.
This week the judge set down the next hearing for November 20 and noted that the matter has “settled in principle”.
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