A FORMER Commonwealth Bank marketing manager who accused two of the bank's most senior managers of sexual harassment and bullying has upped the ante in her fight with the bank, taking her case to the Federal Court.

The two men deny the allegations and say they look forward to their day in court.

Vivienne Dye says she was harassed by the bank's head of local business banking, Michael Blomfield, and the head of sales at the premium business services division, Angus Patterson; both men have since left the bank in unrelated circumstances.

Ms Dye also says she suffered from depression and anxiety.

The bank has not yet filed a defence to the claims, but a spokesman, Bryan Fitzgerald, said it had previously "strongly refuted all of the allegations made by Ms Dye".

"We were not prepared to mediate because we believe there is no case to answer. We will continue to defend our position and support our staff and former staff," he said.

While they have not been sued individually, both Mr Blomfield and Mr Patterson told the Herald that they strongly denied the allegations that they had acted improperly and looked forward to defending the claims in court.

"To the contrary, in fact I did my best to support her during her time at the bank, as I did with all of my team," Mr Blomfield said. "I am more than happy to have my conduct examined in court."

Ms Dye first complained to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in December.

The 31-year-old had hoped to settle her claim for $1 million in damages out of court, but decided to pursue the claim after the bank declined to attend mediation talks.

She initially took action in the commission against Mr Blomfield, Mr Patterson and two others but withdrew claims against them to focus on the bank's Commonwealth Securities arm in the Federal Court.

Ms Dye was earning $130,000 a year with the bank when she said her troubles began.

Mr Blomfield left to head Melbourne margin lender Opes Prime, which collapsed before he could begin his new job.

source: BrisbaneTimes