Vivienne Leggett calls out sexism in racing industry after Greg Rudolph is promoted by Racing SA

A woman bullied so badly by her boss that she swore to never work again says his new promotion is an example of ‘toxic culture’ being alive and well in the horse racing industry.

Vivienne Leggett, 54, spent more than 25 years working for Hawkesbury Race Club, in north Sydney, in sponsorship and promotions before she was forced to quit by her overbearing boss Greg Rudolph in 2016.

Federal Court documents from earlier this year show Mr Rudolph repeatedly humiliated and mistreated Ms Leggett from the first time they met when he told her she was paid ‘too much money’ and called her a ‘nothing’. 

Mr Rudolph stood down from his position following the court case, which found his  workplace bullying had ‘effectively destroyed Mrs Leggett’s life’. She was awarded $2.8 million. 

However, he has now been promoted to racing operations manager with Racing SA.

Ms Leggett’s case against former Hawkesbury Race Club CEO Greg Rudolph (above) found he had ‘ruined her life’ through his oppressive management

‘He has not been held accountable for his actions. Racing is about jobs for the boys, they just give him a pat on the back and he moves on,’ Ms Leggett told The Advertiser.

She said her former boss’s new job meant he can ‘just move on with his life’ while she is ‘still stuck in the foetal position’.

‘Within five months, this person ruined my life,’ she said and warned his new female coworkers to ‘be very, very careful’.

Ms Leggett began her lawsuit against Mr Rudolph in 2019 and in July was awarded a $2.8million payout after the judge found the workplace bullying ‘effectively destroyed Mrs Leggett’s life’.

‘She cannot work and, as the joint experts agreed, is permanently incapacitated from doing so because of Mr Rudolph’s and the club’s conduct,’ the judge said.

In an interview following the case, Ms Leggett said she lost her self while working for Mr Rudolph.

‘I lost my identity. I was always Vivienne Leggett from Hawkesbury Race Club – I wasn’t Ashley or Scott’s mum, I was Vivienne, from Hawkesbury Race Club,’ she said.

Racing SA chief executive Nick Redin (above) previously defended the company hiring Mr Rudolph as they had ‘seen nothing since he’s been with us to indicate we should have any cause for concern’

When recalling an incident where Mr Rudolph asked for an overwhelming amount of paperwork on the last day of the financial year, Ms Leggett said:  ‘I remember going to my husband, just exhausted, saying “I don’t know why he’s doing this”. 

‘What’s he trying to do, is he trying to take my sponsors away from me?

‘What is it? All he wanted to know was about my contracts, what I had in place, how long they were for.

‘That was pretty horrific. Once he got that he just kept adding and asking all these questions on this thing that took me eight hours. He was micromanaging to a level I couldn’t turn my head.’

Racing SA have not commented on Mr Rudolph’s new promotion but in late June chief executive Nick Redin said the company had done its ‘due diligence’ when hiring him.

‘We were satisfied with Greg on the way in and we’ve seen nothing since he’s been with us to indicate we should have any cause for concern,’ he said.