Emma Hendry sued Robert Salter alleges sexual harassment
Former CEO initiates allegations of sexual harassment of investors in her own business
The former head of a $6 million properties company says that the people she had brought in as investors muscled her out of her own business through a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
Emma Hendry, former Chief Executive Officer of the Hendry Group, brought legal proceedings against Robert Salter, The Salter Brothers' founder of private equity business, and his staff, Bevan Nicholson and Tineyi Matanda at the Federal Court last Friday.
The Salter Brothers said in their declaration that they "strongly deny" all allegations and "vigorously defend" the claims but could not comment further, because the cases were brought before the tribunals.
Ms Hendry, 37, Chief Executive Officer for her Hendry Group family business for the past six years, said the abuse forced her to quit stress. During this time, she was not fully compensated, and she did not investigate the suspected stalking when she asked the Board. Her contract as CEO was "repudiated" and the company went down. She now serves as an independent consultant for start-ups in the immobilizing sector.
Managers from a number of major corporations in Australia have protested in recent years of sexual harassment, but Hendry is one of the very few to have escalated the problem to litigation. She told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that she wanted to be a lightning rod for business women to improve and that her experience should act as a reminder of what is right conduct.
CEO-Tribunal
In six months Ms Hendry was the Chief Executive Officer of a distinguished family firm, which is 38 years old and offers advice to the immovable market, unable to operate and is engaged in legal proceedings.
Six years ago, she took over as CEO of her father's 1982 company. It was turned over millions annually under her watch and reported three years in a row on The Australian Financial Review. Ms Hendry said that the company's client base was growing, but she needed more money for debts and technology investment.
At the beginning of 2019, it began to hunt for investors and was introduced to a Melbourne fund manager specialized in alternative investments, The Salter Brothers. One of the 10 private equities companies she met, the 2 billion-dollar firm, but the Salter Brother record in the real estate sector made it suit very well, she said.
"Who Hendry is, where we are going and our strategic plan to get there and my experience have made these few first meetings very enthusiastic about this opportunity.
Shortly thereafter, a small team from The Salter Brothers started reviewing the books and documents of the organization to determine how much they wanted to commit. During this time, Hendry says, Mr. Matanda, the investment manager at Salter, began asking "many inappropriate personal questions" These questions "pertained to my private and personal life which were very inappropriate" said Ms. Hendry.
"Do I drink alcohol? Do I have kids? Do I have a mate? Do I have a kids?
"Why do you ask me these questions when I asked them? 'He only replied to what kind of woman I was, he wanted to work out.
This was the start of the accusation made by Mrs Hendry's legal team of reiterated sexual harassment and discrimination by The Salter Brothers workers, which culminated in the company losing its weight.
Falsified relationship
In a July 2019 press release, Robert Salter expressed appreciation for Mrs Hendry's leadership, stating that she had a 'strong vision for the future of that sector.' This company formally purchased the Hendry Group with substantial investments and publicly the relationship seemed prospering.
The original 10-page application obtained from The Age and Herald details a variety of periodic remarks regarding Ms. Hendry's appearance, clothing and gender.
"You better go and speak to your dad, little girl, I will bankrupt both you and him," Mr. Salter is quoted as allegedly saying.
Mr. Salter "leered at her and looked her up and down" chuckled at her openly and "slowly traced his eyes up and down her body" The document alleges that she was spoken about, stopped decisions from being taken and undermined.
"It began to be very suitable and then over time it got more available," she said to The Age and Herald. "It's been discharged, spoken over, my body, my appearance and attires can't finish a conversation and statement.
"It was very demeaning, belittling. It made me extremely upset." she said.
Ms Hendry closely tracks the growth of the #MeToo Campaign and observes AMP's botched response to a complaint of sexual assault that resulted in the resignation of President David Murray in August. She said there was a power imbalance in many of the cases which made headlines.
"If there is power inequality, people feel impunity," she said. "People feel impunity.
The power inequality had been reversed in this situation. Ms Hendry was the CEO but the suspected victim as well.
With the alleged abuse more pervasive and more blatant, Ms Hendry said in December last year that the strain made her faint in the tram.
"The stress and the emotional and physical toll that it had taken on me had caused me to just not be able to deal with these people any longer," she said. "All this behaviour made me not able to come to work to do my job."
A doctor told her to take a stress break, and then, Ms. Hendry sent a letter outlining her history of alleged sexual assault to the Board of Hendry Party. The business was "controlled by The Salter Brothers and Robert Salter particularly" according to the legal claim at that time. The Hendry Group has confirmed its receipt of the lawsuit but has lodged two court proceedings against it arguing that it has violated its contractual terms.
In a statement to The Age & Herald, the Salter Brothers confirmed that before their letter was received an internal inquiry into Ms Hendry's approach to operating the business was initiated.
Ms Hendry said the charges were baseless and that she tried thinly veiled to drive her away from her business. Her argument against the investment firm is aimed at securing her reintegration as Chief Executive Officer to complete her expected company transformation.
"I do believe in our justice system and I do believe justice will be served," she said.