Malcolm said it represented "a Cera employee with some humanity". When challenged about what she meant by one of her Twitter followers, she replied: "RS also did incredible work as part of a team who loved havin him in there. 2 sides always, is the point."
To another follower, she said: "She is protected by anonymity. He isn't. That's why people who do know Roger are compelled to offer support as they feel it."
WATCH: John Key on Sutton's alleged remark about his wife
When her fans hit back, saying it was not a case to take sides on or a "trial by public opinion", Malcolm said: "I do agree, but by the breaching of the SSC's confidentiality edict it has become that."
She continued: "SSC findings were released. He responded appropriately. Info released informally w'out due process not appropriate.
"Women are abused and exploited round the world by appalling men. I've known Roger for 20 years. He is not that."
But her fans did not agree, with one saying: "He's your family so I get your support. But he behaved badly, implied it was innocent & now he's the victim?" Adding: "He's not accused of abuse, but of creepy comments & behaviour, unacceptable for a CEO in public service."
Grounds for compensation
Employment lawyer James Dunne, senior associate at Chen Palmer, said the woman who complained about Mr Sutton may have grounds for compensation over the way the SSC has handled the case.
"Employers do have an obligation to provide a safe workplace for their staff, and they do have an obligation to deal particularly with sexual harassment complaints as promptly and as efficiently as possible," he told TV3's Firstline this morning.
"If any of those obligations haven't been met you do potentially have grounds for a personal grievance under the Employment Relations Act."
He described it as "a little bizarre" that in a situation where a confidentiality agreement appears to have been signed that "you would then hold a press conference giving one party the opportunity to put their side of the story and not the other party, and particularly where the party that's left out is actually the complainant who to some extent has been vindicated by the process of the investigation".
There had been aspects of the handling of the resignation that would "raise some red flags", he said, specifically Monday's press conference in which Mr Sutton revealed he called people "honey" and "sweetie" and hugged his colleagues.
"The real difficulty, as Jackie Blue and others have pointed out, is when you have a press conference like that, which came across as more of a eulogy or a vindication than in fact someone resigning in the wake of an investigation that found they fell a pretty long way short of the standards we expect of a state service chief executive," he told the broadcaster.
"The question is how the state services commissioner thought that was appropriate given the look of it and how it would play for other women in the public service thinking about making similar complaints."
