Steve Hopwood has denied any inappropriate conduct or touching, despite 15 of 16 claims against him being substantiated, according to the charity’s CEO.
The president of Sydney Legacy has had 15 complaints of workplace harassment and bullying against him substantiated by an external investigation, according to CEO Michael Ducie, including two cases of inappropriate touching, one of them an alleged bottom grope at a Christmas party.
Ducie has also taken the extraordinary step of telling staff they are allowed to work from home if they “feel uncomfortable returning to the workplace due to the complaints raised”.“I don’t have the ability to exclude Mr Hopwood from my workplace ... in the interests of staff I have invited them to work from home.Those who wish to work from the office, in York Street, Sydney, can do so “whilst controls are being arranged”, he said.
Sydney Legacy President Steve Hopwood at a Liberal campaign function for Maria Kovacic. Hopwood managed Kovacic’s 2022 campaign for the seat of Parramatta.to staff followed the investigation by Dentons, arising from 16 separate complaints. One of the allegations of inappropriate touching allegedly occurred early in Hopwood’s tenure. He was given a warning by Ducie.
On February 6, Ducie reminded employees they were “unable to communicate directly with the President of Sydney Legacy Club; all correspondence, both verbal and written, are to be conducted through [executive assistant] Annie de Haan or me”.“When I spoke to you last Wednesday, I informed you that I had decided to apply a mandatory work from home action for the central office staff,” he wrote on March 6.
“There was not, never has been, and never would be in the future, any intent or action of this nature by me.”
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