Lawyers handling the $37 million sexual harassment case against luxury retailer David Jones Ltd and its former chief executive Mark McInnes requested the Federal Court on Monday that the names of a number of witnesses for the case remain protected by confidentiality.

Lawyer Rachel Francois argued that by divulging the names, the witnesses would end up being subjected with the same media and public attention trained on the lawsuit's main protagonist, the 27-year-old former David Jones publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk, who sued both the company and Mr McInnes for alleged unwanted sexual advances from the embattled executives during their time together as co-workers.

Ms Fraser-Kirk included David Jones on her multi-million dollar lawsuit as she accused the company of ignoring the incidents when she reported the purported violations to her immediate superiors, who she claimed failed or opted not to lift a finger.

However, lawyers defending the high-end retailer informed the Federal Court that the company deemed it necessary to know who its other accusers were as they implore the court to grant the plea since "it's the simplest of requests," and there is no pressing reason for the names to stay confidential.

Also, Justice Geoffrey Flick announced on Monday that following his careful study and assessment of the Ms Fraser-Kirk's amended statement, he arrived at a conclusion that revealing the witnesses' identity would not damage the integrity of their testimonies.

The defence lawyers, however, countered that the court's move would impact on the privacy of the witnesses as Ms Francois cited that in the case of Ms Fraser-Kirk, her privacy has been compromised by the encroaching media coverage thrown at her since the start of the celebrated lawsuit.

Ms Francois further argued that not only Ms Fraser-Kirk's privacy was affected but also her personal safety, which the lawyer claimed has taken a turn from a passive status prior to the case, to its present status of high alertness.

Ms Fraser-Kirk, according to her lawyers, has to regularly check under the car ever since the lawsuit case broke into national consciousness and they warned that the same fate could happen to the witnesses once their names were made public.