Stand by your man? It’s been a super-sized fiasco for Super Retail

2 weeks ago 13

Opinion

September 24, 2025 — 3.18pm

The expression, “when you’re in a hole, stop digging”, should be ringing in the ears of the directors of Super Retail - the owner of Rebel, Supercheap Auto and BCF. By the time they dropped their shovels, they had emerged in another continent.

After almost 18 months of steadfast support for chief executive Anthony Heraghty and aggressive attacks on two whistleblowers who claimed the boss had conducted a long-term affair with the company’s former head of human resources, Jane Kelly, the board has executed an embarrassing somersault, sacked Heraghty and now settled with the complainants.

It is rare to witness a board display a lack of judgment of this magnitude.

Anthony Heraghty departed last week after the board alleged his earlier information about his relationship with Jane Kelly was inadequate.

There are no winners in the calamitous stoush.

Rebecca Farrell and Amelia Berczelly – the two former Super Retail lawyers who blew the whistle on the alleged relationship – will be paid an unspecified amount as a settlement to their lawsuit, but have been through the wringer. Berczelly alleges the retailer pushed her to the verge of suicide and bankruptcy as punishment for bringing to light allegations about the relationship.

Meanwhile, Heraghty has lost his job and about $6.8 million in performance rights, to say nothing of his personal reputation.

It is rare to witness a board display a lack of judgment of this magnitude.

The company’s shareholders will have to foot the bill for the settlement, so they won’t be celebrating. That said, the amount will be less than the $30 million to $50 million that the board said the whistleblowers had been originally seeking.

Comeuppance for the board members that oversaw this debacle will become clearer when shareholders meet in October at Super Retail’s annual meeting. Fire up the popcorn for that event.

But for the bystanding voyeurs, reading the entrails of the accusations contained in the court documents has been immensely enthralling.

Let’s recap some of the highlights.

At the beginning of last year, the board made the highly unorthodox move to announce it was expecting to be hit with a lawsuit seeking $30 million to $50 million for claims including non-disclosure of the affair, inappropriate company travel, bullying, victimisation and adverse treatment.

The board had conducted an investigation with the help of external lawyers and thought Heraghty was in the clear.

It was an aggressive, bold but ultimately foolhardy stance given, as it turned out, they were duped.

Directors were ultimately left with a face omelet this month after they got fresh information from Heraghty about the true nature of his relationship with Kelly.

The board had stuck with its support of Heraghty for 18 months despite court documents that surfaced in September last year revealing details of an allegedly toxic work culture within the company – including accusations the chief executive misused company funds to carry on an illicit affair with the head of human resources, along with bullying, harassment and fiery staff meetings. Those allegations were denied by the company and will not be tested in court given the case has settled.

The document contained allegations of a heated exchange between Heraghty and executives during which he was “screaming at them to such an extent that he was spitting at them”.

The documents also alleged that Heraghty’s executive assistant resigned in October 2023 because of the secret relationship, after having been informed by the CEO’s ex-wife of the affair and “observing questionable expenses, travel arrangements and the like in relation to the CEO and (Ms Kelly)”.

Undeterred, the board proposed a resolution at its annual meeting last October to grant a swag of performance rights to Heraghty – which it said last week he now wouldn’t receive.

To the extent that there is any upside to the sordid saga, the company’s financial performance has remained in good health. Over the past six months, shareholders seem to have ignored the background noise and bid the shares up a healthy 26 per cent.

So much for standing by your man.

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