One in three Australian workers (33%) report having experienced workplace sexual harassment in the past five years. Meanwhile, a new jurisdiction to resolve bullying and harassment disputes is also the first to allow for damages orders.
A stop-bullying order requiring mediation between an employee and his manager will stand, after the employer failed to persuade the Fair Work Commission to hear its appeal.
Stripping an employee of his core duties without explanation was "objectively unreasonable", the Federal Circuit Court has found, in ruling an employer breached its obligation to provide him with a safe workplace.
The Fair Work Commission has refused an employee's application for stop-bullying orders, while finding some of his own behaviour was "consistent with upward bullying".
An employee wasn't bullied when she received repeated requests to work in her employer's office, and was placed on a performance improvement plan after a client complaint, a key ruling from this year illustrates.
The fact an employee might be reinstated to the organisation against which she sought stop-bullying orders wasn't enough to overcome a jurisdictional objection to her claim.
There was no reasonable basis for an employee to believe he was being bullied; rather, he sought to "entrench" himself as a victim, the Fair Work Commission has found in refusing to issue stop-bullying orders.
The number of workplace bullying complaints continues to rise, despite employers paying more attention than ever to this area. Watch this webcast to minimise the likelihood of your organisation facing a bullying claim and avoid the workplace culture and reputational damage they can cause.
A "rude" employee could have provoked "a much more robust" response from managers, but instead they remained calm, considerate and professional, the Fair Work Commission has ruled in stop-bullying proceedings.
"Human resources could have intervened more effectively" when an employee's concerns about her performance rating continued to escalate, the Fair Work Commission has found.
All employers should consider putting in place a workplace s-xual harassment prevention plan, even though such plans are only expressly prescribed in one jurisdiction, according to a risk management expert.
Recent events have shone a spotlight on whistleblowing, placing employers firmly on notice that their response to a protected disclosure could be subject to intense scrutiny. Watch this webcast to understand the role HR plays in this challenging space.
