“Once the complaint was raised, which was after the complainant’s departure, IOOF immediately commenced its formal grievance handling processes,” said an IOOF spokeswoman.
“At the conclusion of the formal grievance handling processes it was determined that there were no grounds to remove Mr Yeo or Mr Acosta from the workplace.”
However, the powerful Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) has warned IOOF’s “social licence” is at risk pending its management of the serious charges.
“Whilst we wait for further information to become available in this case, there is no doubt that sexual harassment in the workplace is unacceptable,” said Louise Davidson, chief executive of ACSI, which represents 37 big super funds collectively owning an average 10 per cent of every S&P/ASX 200 company.
“Investors expect companies to have measures in place to identify, address and prevent sexual harassment. We have seen plenty of evidence over recent times that companies that fail to manage this issue do significant damage to their social licence to operate.”
Ms Davidson was one of a number of influential investors and lobbyists who lashed IOOF’s primary competitor, AMP, for its mishandling of sexual harassment allegations against senior executives, including former AMP Capital chief executive Boe Pahari.
Public and investor backlash to AMP’s promotion of Mr Pahari to the high profile and lucrative role despite his having settled a sexual harassment complaint brought by a female subordinate in 2017 eventually resulted in his demotion and the resignation of chairman David Murray.
AMP Australia chief Alex Wade also left the company under a cloud following the revelation of inappropriate conduct allegations. AMP has since put all of its assets under review, with break-up of the 172-year-old company on the cards.
The case against IOOF comes as the ambitious wealth manager attempts a $1.4 billion takeover of National Australia Bank’s MLC Wealth franchise a transaction that would catapult the company past AMP to become Australia’s largest provider of financial advice.
According to a statement of claim filed in the court and seen by the Financial Review, the woman alleged the first instance of sexual harassment took place after IOOF’s 2018 Christmas party.
Mr Yeo is alleged to have reached out and touched her breasts at the after party at South Melbourne’s Albion Rooftop. She claimed she told him that “his conduct was inappropriate and asked him not to do it again”, to which he laughed and touched her breasts again.
He allegedly then “said words to the effect that he was gay, and so itreally didnt matter if he touched her like that”, according to the court documents.
The woman responded that it “mattered to her because it made her feel really uncomfortable, that it was really unwelcome and that she did not like it when people touched her inappropriately”.
Mr Yeo allegedly then groped her breasts again in August 2019 at her own wedding in front of her family and friends.
The woman said that when she repeated her concerns that it was inappropriate, he just laughed.
She told the court that Mr Yeo then confronted her about his misconduct at that year’s Christmas party, wanting to know if she had reported him for sexual misconduct.
She said she had not, but he “said that he did not believe her” and started treating her more sharply at work and excluding her from tasks that were part of her job.
He also “pinched her bottom” twice as she took a phone call on a work offsite last February, the woman alleged, and again laughed when she asked him to stop.
Companies that fail to manage this issue do significant damage to their social licence to operate.
Louise Davidson, ACSI
The woman alleged she was subjected to sexual discrimination by both Mr Yeo and Mr Acosta. This included Mr Yeo telling her at a business lunch with two external fund managers that it “just isn’t the case” that women hired under quotas showed their worth to a company once they were inside it.
She also said that Mr Acosta interfered with her work in 2017 – at which point they were both employed at the same level – by changing fees for a client without consulting her.
At the time, she complained to her then-manager Dan Farmer, but it did not stop Mr Acosta’s promotion to in 2020 to a role that the woman said she was not asked to apply for because of her gender.
In the new role, he allegedly continued to interfere in her work, culminating in the woman confronting him last September, according to the court documents.
She said she told Mr Acosta that she felt undermined and had knowledge that could contribute to his decisions at work.
In response, Mr Acosta allegedly said: “I expect opinions from you. You always give your opinion. Not only do I have a wife at home, I have you here in the office”.
The woman said her position was made redundant a month later. While she was told she could apply for a new role, she said a colleague was already chasing that job so she chose not to apply.
She is claiming damages for loss of opportunity and loss of future income from IOOF, as well as compensation for the humilation and distress caused by the alleged harassment and discrimination.
The plaintiff is represented by Maurice Blackburn partner Josh Bornstein, who declined to comment. IOOF will defend the charges.