Email said to have exposed law firm's payroll, criticised senior staff
The interim chief people officer of Australian law firm Slater and Gordon has denied that she was responsible for a rogue all-staff email that exposed employees' salaries on Friday night, according to reports.
The email, as reported by various news outlets, was critical of senior executives of the law firm, describing its senior staff with phrases such as "senile and needs to retire," "ruthlessly ambitious," and "lazy and unmotivated."
The email also contained the remuneration of its entire workforce, including details of bonuses and the performance ranking of all staff, The Australian Financial Review reported.
The rogue email came from a Gmail account that had the name of the law firm's interim CPO, Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen, who denied the allegations on Monday.
"Since Friday morning, I have been wrongfully accused of sending a highly inappropriate email to Slater and Gordon staff and publicly vilified since that time," said Ruiz-Matthyssen through her lawyer.
"I did not send the email. A cursory examination of the email and its attachment [gives] a clear indication as to the likely identity of the sender. I have engaged lawyers and I am in the process of taking legal action."
Dina Tutungi, chief executive of Slater and Gordon, also previously said Ruiz-Matthyssen did not send the email.
"The email was not sent by the interim chief people officer Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen. It contains many disparaging, false, and deliberately misleading claims," Tutungi said in a statement quoted by The Australian.
"The information attached to the email, while unreliable, should never have been shared."
Tutungi said they have already related the incident to the police and cybersecurity experts for an investigation, The AFR reported.
According to the report, the company has held two meetings as of Monday morning since the email was sent. Employees have been told that the probe was complicated and not to expect any results this week.
The probe, as Tutungi said in the meetings, is focusing on whether the email was sent by one or more former staff members or a combination of current and former staff.
A previous statement from the firm said the email was likely from an external "lone wolf" and not from a co-ordinated cyberattack.
"We are taking this matter seriously, but our focus, as always, is on our employees and the important work they do for our clients," a spokesman from the firm said as quoted by the AFR.
External human resources experts would be called in to talk to upset staff about their relative pay level after the leak, according to Tutungi.
Slater and Gordon, one of Australia's most prominent law firms, was founded in 1935 by William Slater and Hugh Lyons Gordon.
It is regarded as one of Australia's largest consumer law firms. In 2023, it was acquired by Australia-based private equity firm Allegro Funds.
