https://www.copyright link/work-and-careers/workplace/whistleblower-accuses-noni-b-owner-of-mass-privacy-breach-20200615-p552nr
Fashion retailer Mosaic Brands has been accused of sharing personal information of millions of customers to a third party, offering fake discounts and not allowing customers to exit mass marketing emails.
Former head of customer relationship management Meray Azar alleged she was unlawfully fired for raising the privacy and spam issues with senior executives, and claims in legal action against the company that they did nothing to address her concerns.
Noni B owner Mosaic Brands has denied any data breach occurred. Cassandra Hannagan
The retailer,which operates Noni B, Rivers, Millers and Rockmans , has denied any data or privacy breaches occurred and pledged to strongly defend the case.
Ms Azar's case in the Federal Circuit Court seeks to invoke whistleblower protections for her complaints to the chief information officer and the chief financial officer that personal customer data had been disclosed to a third party without their consent.
She also alleged the retailer emailed customers promising them $10 vouchers, even though the voucher was not working on the company system "or actually distributed to such customers".
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ViewMOZrelated articles The CFO later warned her "not to behave like this" and human resources reprimanded her to not bother the CFO and CEO Scott Evans with data breach complaints, according to her application.
Ms Azar would later tell Mr Evans that the company was sending out mass emails, texts and mail to customers in breach of the Spam Act and that the unsubscribe link in the emails was broken.
By February 20, she hadwritten to senior executives that Mosaic Brands "had been involved in a significant data breach such that the security of approximately 4.6 million customers' personal information and records had been jeopardised".
The Australian Communications and Media Authority had also notified the company that it had received customer complaints about its email marketing system, she said.
However, she claimed senior management neither planned nor took any steps to correct the matters.
The next day she was fired effective immediately.
The head of HR allegedly told Ms Azar, who had been diagnosed with "a mild but manageable" anxiety disorder the previous year, that the company "did not think it's a good idea to keep you on with your medical condition" and "we think it is best you do nothing and just spend time with your family".
Ms Azar has invoked whistleblower protections in the Corporations Act to argue her complaints were protected and alleges the dismissal also breached the Fair Work Act.
A spokesman for Mosaic Brands said "we strongly refute" the allegations and "intend to do so in court".
"Meanwhile, we confirmed that there has been no data breach or any breach of personal customer information," he said.
"We are very disappointed by these assertions as we place the customer at the heart of everything we do. This includes customers’ privacy and safety."
Asked about any investigation of spam breaches at Mosaic Brands, an ACMA spokeswoman said the regulator" does not comment on, or provide detail about, any investigations in train".
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