Editor’s note: The content below is to not be taken as legal advice. For information about your rights at work, contact a legal representative or the Fair Work Ombudsmen.
Amy Taeuber is used to reporting the news, but this week the cadet journalist found herself the subject of it, after an audio recording of her 2016 suspension from Channel Seven was made public.
According to the clip aired by the ABC‘s 7.30 program, the 28-year-old Adelaide woman was called into a meeting where she was presented with claims that she’d bullied a fellow cadet. She was denied a support person, then told her phone and ID pass would be revoked and that she was to exit the building without touching her computer. She was later dismissed from the company.
The case first attracted media attention in October when it was revealed that, just days before the network’s bullying investigation into her alleged actions began, Taeuber had made a harassment complaint about a senior male reporter, whom she claimed had made disparaging remarks about her marital status and had called her a lesbian. Seven has vehemently denied the two investigations are connected.
But it’s back in the headlines now because of the release of the recording, which was taken by Taeuber herself on her mobile phone – according to the ABC – in order to “protect her legal rights”.
The case has viewers asking: are you legally allowed record a conversation like this at work?
Having subsequently gone through a mediation process with the Seven network in which she had legal representation, it’s likely that Taeuber would have obtained expert advice about the clip.