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A woman who was mistreated so harshly by her supervisor that she vowed never to work again thinks his current promotion exemplifies the horse racing industry’s ‘toxic culture.’
Vivienne Leggett, 54, worked in sponsorship and marketing at Hawkesbury Race Club in north Sydney for more than 25 years until being forced to leave by her domineering supervisor Greg Rudolph in 2016.
According to federal court records filed earlier this year, Mr Rudolph routinely ridiculed and insulted Ms Leggett beginning with the first time they met, when he told her she was paid ‘too much money’ and referred to her as a ‘nothing.’
Mr Rudolph resigned from his employment after the court ruled that his workplace abuse had “essentially wrecked Mrs Leggett’s life.” She received $2.8 million.
He has, however, been elevated to Racing SA’s racing operations manager.
‘He has not faced consequences for his acts.’ ‘Racing is about employment for the lads; they simply pat him on the back and he goes on,’ Ms Leggett said to The Advertiser.
She said that her former boss’s new job allows him to “simply go on with his life,” whilst she is “still locked in the foetal position.”
‘This individual devastated my life in five months,’ she added, warning his new female employees to ‘be very, very cautious.’
s Leggett filed a complaint against Mr Rudolph in 2019 and was given a $2.8 million judgment in July after the court determined that the workplace abuse “essentially wrecked Mrs Leggett’s life.”
‘She cannot work and, as the joint experts concurred, is permanently unable to do so as a result of Mr Rudolph’s and the club’s actions,’ the court added.
Ms Leggett said in an interview after the case that she lost herself while working for Mr Rudolph.
‘I misplaced my identity.’ ‘I was Vivienne Leggett from Hawkesbury Race Club – I wasn’t Ashley or Scott’s mother, I was Vivienne from Hawkesbury Race Club,’ she said. Ms Leggett recalled one occasion in which Mr Rudolph requested an enormous quantity of documentation on the final day of the fiscal year, stating, ‘I remember walking to my husband, utterly fatigued, saying “I don’t know why he’s doing this.”
‘What is he trying to do, take my sponsors away from me?’
‘What exactly is it? He was only interested in my contracts, what I had in place, and how long they were for.
‘That was terrifying. Once he realized that, he simply continued contributing and asking questions about this item that took me eight hours to do. He was micromanaging to such an extent that I couldn’t turn my head.’
Racing SA has not commented on Mr Rudolph’s new position, but in late June, CEO Nick Redin said that the firm did its “due research” in appointing him.
‘We were pleased with Greg on the way in, and we’ve seen nothing while he’s been with us to suggest we should be concerned,’ he added.