Sally Rugg has upped the ante in her litigation against the commonwealth and independent MP Monique Ryan, warning she will add a claim of “serious contravention” by the commonwealth for the “knowing and systematic” breach of labour standards.
Rugg’s lawyers, Maurice Blackburn, revealed the aggressive legal strategy in a statement on Thursday, after mediation failed to resolve the dispute between the MP, her chief of staff and the commonwealth, which employs parliamentary staff.
Ryan responded that Rugg’s claims and the additional matters in her lawyers’ statement “are rejected and will be defended”.
Guardian Australia understands that Ryan was keen to settle the matter, but the commonwealth’s offer fell short of securing a settlement with Rugg.
Rugg’s case returns to the federal court on Friday to hear her application for an injunction to prevent her employment being terminated.
In January, Rugg launched the case accusing the commonwealth of “hostile conduct” breaching the Fair Work Act and claiming Ryan caused her to be sacked for refusing to work “unreasonable” additional hours.
In a statement Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Bornstein said that Rugg “will seek to add claims of ‘serious contraventions’ of the Fair Work Act against the commonwealth”.
“A serious contravention occurs where the breach of labour standards is knowing and systematic.
“The serious contravention claim is made in circumstances in which Dr Ryan publicly acknowledged that her staff were working 70-hour weeks and that it was not safe.”
The statement appears to be based on a comment Ryan made in October to the Australian that her staff were working “unsustainable” hours with some working more than 70 hours a week.
“It’s not healthy. I think it’s only a matter of time before we have a poor outcome with one of our staff members,” Ryan reportedly said.
Bornstein said that the commonwealth had also been “on notice of unlawful excessive hours being worked for parliamentary staffers for many years, including by reason of inquiries and reports to parliament”.
“Most recently, [sex discrimination commissioner] Kate Jenkins’ [2021] Set the Standard report documents that staffers working excessive hours was an important factor in an unsafe workplace.”
In a statement, Ryan said that “this matter is before the court, and I will not be commenting on it at this point”.
“[Rugg’s] claims, and the additional matters raised in Maurice Blackburn’s press release of 2.3.2023, are rejected and will be defended.”
Bornstein said the case could be a “a test case for what constitutes ‘reasonable’ overtime or additional hours for parliamentary staffers and may impact other white-collar employees in the labour market”.
Bornstein said: “If Ms Rugg’s case succeeds, it will open the door for further litigation including class actions, not just for employees of the commonwealth but for every Australian worker [experiencing] a contractual obligation to perform undefined ‘reasonable additional hours’.”
In addition to an injunction to keep her job, Rugg is seeking compensation and unspecified “pecuniary penalties” from both the commonwealth and Ryan. The penalty for a serious contravention is a maximum of $660,000.
The Jenkins report said that “long and irregular hours of work was … identified as a factor that can ‘exacerbate the aggressiveness’” in the parliamentary workplace.
Despite that finding, in June the Albanese government cut the staffing allocation of crossbencher MPs from eight to five.
Rugg is a Melbourne-based LGBTQ+ activist and feminist who played a leading role in the yes campaign during the marriage equality vote in her former position at GetUp, before working as the executive director of Change.org.
