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The former CEO of Harrier Group was summarily dismissed for deliberately misusing her work credit card while the company was struggling financially, not because she raised bullying and pay issues, the Federal Circuit Court has ruled.

Judge Allyson Ladhams said that, despite Kelly Reynolds' claim that she had repaid the personal expenses, her conduct nonetheless breached her employment contract and seriously risked Harrier Group's reputation and viability as a human capital services company.

"I emphasise that this is not a situation in which there was an occasional inadvertent use of the company credit card for personal expenses, which was rectified as soon as possible after the misuse was identified," she said.

"Rather, Ms Reynolds had a repeated practice of putting personal expenses on the credit card that were completely unrelated to her travel, and then choosing to repay the amounts over several pay cycles..."