A senior fashion executive was told to 'use translation to your native language' and later subjected to an 'anyone with a brain' spray by her boss before dramatically quitting her job at luxury fashion label Bondi Born.
asserted
executive → tell → label
Dina Shawriah, who was hired as the firm's head of operations in January on a reported salary package of almost $150,000, claimed she was driven to resign two months later after becoming overwhelmed by staffing shortages and enduring a string of cutting remarks from founder Dale McCarthy.
asserted
she → hire → McCarthy
Fair Work Commissioner Alana Matheson criticised Ms McCarthy's management style, describing some of her communications as 'condescending' and saying her suggestion that Ms Shawriah had language difficulties could reasonably be considered 'offensive and belittling'.
uncertain
Shawriah → criticise → difficulties
Ms McCarthy is a former Fairfax Media chief marketing officer who went on to found the label that has been worn by celebrities including Beyoncé and Hailey Bieber.
asserted
that → go → Beyoncé
Ms Shawriah told the FWC she had been promised her role would be supported by casual warehouse workers and an existing part-time employee who would become full-time.
asserted
who → tell → workers
Former employee William Neves had initially been selected for the role, before Ms McCarthy approached Ms Shawriah in January and told her he was not working out.
asserted
he → select → her
Mr Neves, who worked for the company for about a month, later submitted a witness statement claiming he had experienced a lack of support, unclear communication and a management style heavily focused on assigning blame rather than providing guidance and solutions.
However, Mr Neves did not attend the hearing, meaning his evidence could not be tested by the company.
uncertain
evidence → work → company
Dale McCarthy (pictured) is a former Fairfax Media chief marketing officer who went on to found the global luxury fashion label Bondi Born
Dina Shawriah, who was hired as the firm's head of operations in January, claimed she was driven to resign two months later after becoming overwhelmed by staffing shortages and enduring a string of cutting remarks from McCarthy
Despite her senior title, Ms Shawriah claimed she found herself doing everything from changing the toilet paper and tissues to preparing barcodes, commercial invoices and dealing with day-to-day shipping.
asserted
herself → picture → shipping
She told the FWC she also made trips to the post office and worked weekends and outside ordinary hours to deal with urgent matters.
asserted
she → tell → matters
Pressure mounted after the permanent customer service assistant assigned to support her resigned at the end of January.
asserted
assistant → mount → January
Although 54 people had responded to an earlier advertisement for the role and Ms McCarthy had shortlisted six candidates, by mid-March customer service was instead being handled by a Philippines-based remote worker who could not physically check stock in the warehouse.
uncertain
who → respond → warehouse
Ms Shawriah said the arrangement created more work for her because she had to deal with customer inquiries requiring physical stock checks, with help from casual staff.
asserted
she → say → staff
Her administrative support was also provided by workers based in the Philippines, one of whom resigned without notice in mid-February.
asserted
one → provide → February
By March, Ms Shawriah was repeatedly pushing for more staff.
asserted
Shawriah → push → staff
She emailed Ms McCarthy requesting two additional workers to help with daily operations, including picking and packing, customer service and returns.
asserted
She → email → picking
Ms McCarthy replied that there was insufficient money in the budget for the extra staff, saying the existing level of warehouse staffing was already above budget for March.
Bondi Born founder Dale McCarthy (right) and creative director Karla Clarke thank the audience following their runway show at the 2022 Australian Fashion Week
asserted
McCarthy → reply → Week
Ms McCarthy emailed Shawriah: 'PLEASE - read my emails carefully and answer me in a way that SOLVES THE PROBLEM I am raising.
asserted
I → email → PROBLEM
This email does not do that.'
asserted
email → do → that
(A mock-up is shown)
asserted
up → show → ?
In one exchange after Ms Shawriah had difficulty activating a work card, Ms McCarthy wrote: 'Dina…
asserted
McCarthy → have → card
Again…you must take your time and read instructions carefully and understand them.
asserted
you → take → them
Use translation to your native language if you need to.'
asserted
you → use → language
(A mock-up of the email is shown)
asserted
up → show → email
Two days later, Ms Shawriah told her boss that she and another employee were 'overwhelmed and stressed out' and the business did not have enough resources.
asserted
business → tell → resources
But the relationship was also deteriorating over how Ms McCarthy communicated with her.
asserted
McCarthy → deteriorate → her
In one exchange after Ms Shawriah had difficulty activating a work card, Ms McCarthy wrote: 'Dina… Again…you must take your time and read instructions carefully and understand them.
asserted
you → have → them
Use translation to your native language if you need to.
asserted
you → use → language
'No one else has had this issue…
asserted
one → have → issue
If you can't accurately understand instructions given by me or anyone else, in your role it can cost our business a lot of money.'
asserted
it → understand → money
Ms Shawriah told the FWC she spoke fluent, professional English and had more than 12 years of senior operations experience.
asserted
she → tell → experience
She said she understood the comments as singling her out over her national origin and first language.
asserted
she → say → origin
In a separate email, Ms McCarthy told Ms Shawriah she would need to answer customer service phone calls because nobody else on her team had strong English.
asserted
nobody → tell → English
The criticism continued as the pair clashed over inventory problems.
asserted
pair → continue → problems
In one email copied to Ms Shawriah's colleagues, Ms McCarthy said there were 'a bunch of issues with inventory' that she was 'very unhappy about', adding that Ms Shawriah was 'still struggling to get on top of inventory and dispatching'.
'Frankly, a bit of a mess,' she wrote.
asserted
she → copy → mess
Ms Shawriah maintained some of the missing stock was contained in a separate shipment she had not yet received and was therefore not her fault.
asserted
she → maintain → shipment
Another exchange saw Ms McCarthy write: 'PLEASE – read my emails carefully and answer me in a way that SOLVES THE PROBLEM I am raising.
asserted
I → see → PROBLEM
This email does not do that.
asserted
email → do → that
'I know you are busy – as are we all – but you need to – please – take the time and investigate / answer properly the first time – or you are just wasting mine!'
Ms McCarthy later told her: 'I'm not a huge fan of email being written by AI…'
asserted
email → know → AI
She concluded: 'This does not make sense.
asserted
This → conclude → sense
It cannot continue.
asserted
It → continue → ?
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
