Hawthorn Football Club accused of mental health hypocrisy

In documents lodged on Sunday with the human rights division of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Salmon-Abbott says she was first approached by Hawthorn shortly after Christmas 2020 about working for the club.

She began work in March 2021 as a full-time member of its partnership accounts team. About two weeks before she started work, Salmon-Abbott was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. She believes that, like many young people in Melbourne, her mental health deteriorated during the city’s first protracted lockdown the previous year.

In her statement of claim, Salmon-Abbott says she discussed her mental illness with her bosses at the club and explained to them that feeling excluded was one of the significant triggers for her condition. She told this masthead that they seemed supportive of her situation, but in her statement, she says that this changed after she had a series of panic attacks at work and was hospitalized for a month.

Salmon-Abbott says that after she was given from hospital, she requested a gradual return to work, starting discharge with one day a week. Her dispute with Hawthorn, which is already the subject of failed mediation, centers on whether the club genuinely tried to accommodate this.

“I tried for months and months and months… to get back to the club,” she said. “I was just trying everything possible and it just seemed like I was stuck in mud.”

A key piece of evidence cited by Salmon-Abbott’s statement of claim is an email in which a Hawthorn executive made it clear that Salmon-Abbott would not be welcomed back to her old job until she was able to work full-time. The email was circulated among Hawthorn staff but not shared with Salmon-Abbott.

This is the basis of the claim of misleading and deceptive conduct against Hawthorn.

In August 2021, Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves sought to reduce Salmon-Abbott’s employment contract from five to one day a week, shift her from corporate partnerships to reception and extend her probationary period, the court documents claim.

According to Salmon-Abbott’s statement of claim, this was detrimental conduct in breach of Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act.

Her case is being run by Harmers Workplace Lawyers, a specialist employment law firm.

Salmon-Abbott claims that from July 5, 2021, through to the end of the year, she was on unpaid leave and not permitted to return to work. She has now quit the club and taken a new job with a large consultancy firm.

Salmon-Abbott says she feels supported in her new job and is still managing her anxiety and depression, which have prompted thoughts of suicide at her worst points.

“It is not something that just goes away overnight,” she says. “To this day, I can’t attend an AFL football match because I get triggered. I’ll have a panic attack.”

Asked why she is pursuing the case against Hawthorn – the club she grew up barracking for – Salmon Abbott says she was disappointed to leave the sports industry and more disappointed in Hawthorn, which every year plays an AFL match for the Beyond Blue Cup, an event intended to “shine a light on mental health” and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

“I think it comes down to the fact that I know I wouldn’t be the only person out there who’s experiencing this issue. This is bigger than me.”

Kennett founded Beyond Blue in 2000, shortly after leaving office as Victorian premier. He chaired the organization for 17 years before handing it over to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He retires as Hawthorn president at the end of this year.

Salmon-Abbott is seeking a declaration that Hawthorn breached Victoria’s equal opportunity laws, an apology from the club, compensation and costs. Reeves said the club would make no further comment while the matter was before VCAT.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.