A director sexually harassed an employee when he slapped her on the bottom and twice declared his feelings for her, the Federal Court has found in ordering his employer to pay $268k in damages and compensation.
Employers' new obligations to proactively eliminate s-xual harassment and prevent psychosocial harm at work are set to have an impact on HR teams that shouldn't be underestimated, a workplace lawyer says.
Two related companies and a director, who sexually harassed multiple young employees, have been convicted and fined a total of $290k. Meanwhile the Federal Government is reportedly rolling back some casual reforms in the Closing Loopholes Bill.
An employer's "ad hoc" approach to a sexual harassment allegation and its subsequent investigation caused an employee's psychological injury and were not reasonable actions, a commission has found.
Senior leaders and HR managers in the Productivity Commission will undergo trauma-informed and victim-centred response training, after a review revealed a "permissive" workplace culture where allegations of s-xual harassment and s-xism are minimised and inadequately investigated.
Regardless of finding it "offensive" that the success of her s-xual harassment complaint hinged on her employment status, a former employee has been denied the stop-SH orders she sought.
Workplace investigations are subject to far greater scrutiny now, with employers under more pressure to make their processes fair, safe, and procedurally sound. Watch this webcast to ensure your organisation's approach is as thorough and defensible as possible.
S-xual harassment allegations against an employee were part of an employer's "pre-meditated" plan to remove him from its business "in the most efficient way", the Fair Work Commission has found.
An employer has failed to prove it fairly sacked an employee for exposing a female colleague to explicit images, despite the Fair Work Commission accepting there was a "culture of inappropriate activity" among workers.