Former employee sues TRUenergy over sexual harassment claim Suing: Kate Shea. The sexual harassment culture of TRUenergy was so bad that a human resources representative followed a director around the staff Christmas party to ensure he did not do anything untoward, a court has heard. The former director of corporate and government affairs, Kate Shea, is suing the company, which is now called EnergyAustralia, in the Melbourne Federal Court for unlawfully terminating her after she reported allegations she had been sexually harassed by then chief financial officer Kevin Holmes and complained of the sexual harassment culture at work. Charles Gunst, QC, for Ms Shea, said in his opening address on Monday that staff - both men and women - were sexually intimidated in the workplace, with a former female director claiming that at a Christmas party: " (Holmes) leered at me ...it was so obvious and truly made my skin crawl." He said that on another occasion a male staff member's pants had been pulled down at work in front of others "leaving him stark naked from the waist down in front of others" in what was later described as a "prank gone wrong." Ms Shea reported she was sexually harassed by Mr Holmes at a work function in Hong Kong in 2010 to the human resources department and an investigation followed after she informed chief executive Richard McIndoe last April. But Ms Shea's employment was terminated after the company claimed her position had become redundant in its restructure. She claims she was unlawfully terminated due to her complaints. Charles Gunst, QC, for Ms Shea, said that his client and Mr McIndoe had a good personal and professional relationship even after she had made her initial complaint. But Mr McIndoe considered her later allegations in June that there was a culture of sexual harassment at the company that he and others condoned as "blackmail against him and scandalous." Within a matter of weeks ... he tried to sack her. Nothing else happened, she hadn't mucked up at work," Mr Gunst said. Things happened very quickly once he was implicated. Ms Shea refused his demands to retract the allegations against him in September, he said. Only two of the company's 1500 employees - Ms Shea and her executive assistant - were made redundant in the restructure, and the company later hired someone else to perform the job she previously had. Justin Bourke, SC, for TRUenergy said that Ms Shea "loved" working at the company so much that she was hoping to be reinstated. He said that there was a "real business case" for her termination within the company's restructure and that she viewed Mr Holmes as a competitor at work. The minute she hears Kevin Holmes is going to be in the investor relations space, after that meeting she starts describing (the Hong Kong incident) as sexual harassment and sexual assault when she'd previously referred to those events as 'he made a pass at me'.