A dispute between teal MP Monique Ryan and her estranged chief of staff Sally Rugg will return to court on Friday after mediation between the parties failed to produce a settlement.
Lawyers representing the Commonwealth, the Independent MP for Kooyong and her high profile staffer have spent the past two weeks trying to resolve a dispute which, if it proceeds to hearing, will expose the inner office workings of one of parliament’s new representatives.
Kooyong MP Monique Ryan and her estranged chief of staff Sally Rugg in happier times.
After a final meeting on Thursday was unable to bridge their differences, Ryan and Rugg were preparing for another date before Federal Court Justice Debra Mortimer on Friday and, potentially, the release of material contained in affidavits already filed with the court, which may be embarrassing for the parties.
When the matter was last before the court, Justice Mortimer “reluctantly” agreed to suppress the material until after the case was mediated to boost the chances of a settlement.
Rugg, a former head of Change.org and campaign director with GetUp! who came to prominence as a political activist during the same sex marriage debate, joined Ryan’s office shortly after the federal election and fell out with her boss at the end of last year over what she claims were unreasonable work demands.
In court documents lodged late last month, Rugg alleges she was dismissed from her job for exercising her right to refuse to work unreasonable, additional hours.
Although her employer is technically the Commonwealth her dispute is with Ryan, who she describes as the “principal actor” in forcing her out of her job.
Ryan has said little about the dispute, other than expressing hope it can be quickly settled to enable her to continue to represent Kooyong. She this week tweeted details of her parliamentary workload.
Rugg also took to social media to comment on the past week’s parliamentary agenda as a spectator.
Neither party commented when contacted on Thursday.
Rugg’s lawyer Josh Bornstein, speaking to The Age and Sydney Morning Herald before this week’s mediations, said employees across many professions had become inured to working excessive hours and were largely unaware of their legal right to refuse.
He said that Rugg’s claim had the potential to become a much-needed test case in a poorly understood area of workplace law.
“This has become so widespread that it has been crying out for some sort of test case,” he said. “Whether this is the case that goes to trial to determine the issue, I don’t know.”
Both parties believe their dispute was caused, at least in part, by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to reduce from four to one the number of personal adviser positions funded by the Commonwealth for independent MPs.
This meant that Rugg, in addition to serving as Ryan’s chief of staff, was also her media adviser, policy adviser and speechwriter.
Rugg has remained on Ryan’s payroll but has performed no work for her since the start of this year.
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