Hawkesbury racing club CEO Greg Rudolph bullies marketing manager with email

Vivienne Leggett was interrupted from her job at the Hawkesbury Race Club by CEO Greg Rudolph and won a $2.8 million payout

An oppressive boss whose constant campaign of harassment of a female worker leads to multimillion-dollar payouts has been promoted by her last employer.

Greg Rudolph was CEO of the Hawkesbury Race Club when Vivienne Leggett was forced to quit her sponsorship and promotion role because of her bullying behavior.

Ms Leggett, who has worked for the club for 25 years, won a $2.8 million payout due to bullying she suffered from Mr Rudolph, and for being denied annual leave, sabbaticals and commission payments.

The Federal Court heard that Rudolph’s actions caused Leggett to develop a significant depressive disorder with anxiety that kept him unemployed for nearly six years.

The court ruled in Ms Leggett’s favour in February and in late May rewarded her with millions of dollars in compensation.

In a damning judgment, Judge Steven Rares found workplace bullying ‘effectively ruined Mrs Leggett’s life’.

Mr Rudolph, previously vice-chairman of Racing NSW, was hired by the South Australian equivalent earlier this year.

He was initially hired as a senior flight attendant but was recently promoted to racing operations manager in an organizational reshuffle.

Hawkesbury Race Club CEO Greg Rudolph (above) is known to have bullied and abused Leggett for several months in 2016. The Federal Court heard that Rudolph’s behavior caused Leggett to develop a depressive disorder that left him unemployed for six years.

Racing SA chief executive Nick Redin confirmed last month that he and his board were comfortable with Rudolph’s appointment to the newly created job, despite Ms Leggett’s experience.

“We did our due diligence when Greg joined us,” Redin told the Herald Sun.

“We’re satisfied with Greg on the way in and we haven’t seen anything since he’s been with us to suggest we should have reason to be concerned.”

Ms Leggett’s case includes an email she sent to Mr Rudolph in which she referred to him yelling at him on the phone to get back to work when he was at the race barrier.

He described feeling embarrassed by Mr Rudolph’s ‘rude’ request and said the incident ‘aggravated many other situations in which I feel oppressed, isolated and unreasonably questioned’.

“I feel we are reaching an untenable situation that needs to be resolved,” Leggett wrote.

Vivienne Leggett sent this email to the CEO of Hawkesbury Race Club, Greg Rudolph, complaining that he had humiliated her in a screaming phone call ordering her back to the office. The incident ‘aggravated many other situations that made me feel oppressed’, she wrote

Mr Rudolph did not respond to Ms Leggett’s concerns in response to her email about her behavior. Instead he asked her to attend a meeting with him the next morning

In response, Rudolph did not address Ms Leggett’s concerns, instead telling her to attend his office with the club function manager the next day.

“Please meet me in my office tomorrow morning at 9am with Joanne Price, to discuss your performance,” Rudolph wrote.

‘You can bring a support person if you want.’

When Ms Leggett received the answer, she felt ‘more depressed, emotionally drained and started vomiting’, according to a Federal Court judgment.

The court heard Ms Leggett started working at the club in 1991 when she was 28, working under CEO Brian Fletcher, who described her as a ‘trusted employee’.

Mr Rudolph took over as CEO of the Hawkesbury Race Club in May 2016. The court heard the new chief started bullying Ms Leggett early on, believing she was being paid too much. Hawkesbury racetrack pictured

He was responsible for bringing in new deals and maintaining existing contracts, and was promoted to club sponsor and marketing manager.

Mr Rudolph took over as CEO in May 2016 after Mr Fletcher left to take a top job at NRL club Penrith Panthers.

Court heard the new chief began to bully Ms Leggett early on, believing she was being paid too much.

Mr. Rudolph would select a sponsor manager, organize his duties, email him non-stop and deny him his basic employee benefits.

Ms Leggett complained to Mr Rudolph about her behavior about four months after she started her new role, explaining the impact it had on her mental health and capacity to do her own work.

Vivienne Leggett (pictured) worked as a sponsor and promotion at the Hawkesbury Race Club for more than 25 years before quitting due to CEO treatment – before winning $2.8 million after taking the club to Federal Court

The Federal Court heard the incident at the barrier on October 9, 2016 and the subsequent email from Rudolph was ‘the last one’.

Shortly before the start of the last race of the day, Rudolph called Ms Leggett and ‘screamed into the phone in an angry tone’.

Ms Leggett said she had previously been told she should ‘feel free’ to be in the barrier ‘at any time’, but Rudolph demanded she return to the office then hung up.

After receiving Rudolph’s response to his email about the incident, Leggett received a medical certificate from his GP declaring he unfit to work for the next week.

He emailed the certificate to Mr Rudolph, who later in the day passed it on to his father-in-law, the venerable former chief steward of Racing NSW, Ray Murrihy, with the comment: ‘Dropped like a fly’.

Brian Fletcher (left) was CEO of the Hawkesbury Race Club before Greg Rudolph and described Ms Leggett as a ‘trusted employee’. Rudolph’s father-in-law respected former Racing NSW butler Ray Murrihy (right)

Mr Rudolph claims his email to Ms Leggett asking him to come to his office was sent out of concern for his well-being, which Judge Rares said could be contrasted with his ‘arrogance’ to Mr Murrihy.

‘People who really care wouldn’t behave this way,’ Judge Rares found.

‘On the contrary, Mr Rudolph’s true colors appear in his declaration of victory reflecting what he has been doing for months, namely, trying to force Mrs Leggett out of her job without firing her, knowing that there is no basis for doing so. ‘

On another occasion, after reviewing Ms Leggett’s use of the club’s credit card, Mr Rudolph questioned her spending $15 on parking. The court heard he had frequent ‘steadfast interrogations’ over expenses.

Justice Rares found the club breached its contractual obligations and the Fair Work Act by not paying Ms Leggett the benefits she was entitled to.

The court also ruled that the club was negligent in providing a safe working environment for Ms Leggett.

Ms Leggett started working at the club in 1991 when she was 28 years old, working under CEO Brian Fletcher, who described her as a ‘trusted employee’

‘In my opinion, the behavior of the club, through Mr Rudolph, effectively ruined Mrs Leggett’s life,’ Justice Rares discovered.

‘He is unable to work and, as the experts together agree, he is unable to work permanently due to the behavior of Mr Rudolph and the club.’

In an interview with Just Horse Racing, Leggett claimed he had ‘suicidal thoughts’ because of the ordeal but did not have enough money to pay for treatment.

After stepping down in 2019, Rudolph said he was proud of his achievements at the Hawkesbury Race Club.

“The board and I are proud of what we have accomplished during my tenure, which has gone beyond my initial three-year commitment,” he said.

‘The time is right for me to finish my business studies and spend more time on other commitments I have, in charity, for example.’

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