A high-profile s-xual harassment case has had litigation ramifications this year that HR professionals should keep preparing for well into 2016, warns an employment lawyer.
The Fair Work Commission has praised an HR team's response to a "verbal assault" at a work-related function that ultimately resulted in an employee's dismissal.
An employee who was described as a "super manager" - but deemed "unsuitable" for her role after she made a s-xual harassment complaint - was exposed to unlawful adverse action, the Federal Circuit Court has found.
S-xual harassment "doesn't pop out of nowhere", and employers could do more to foster workplace cultures that prevent it, according to S-x Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick.
An employee who suffered ongoing s-xual harassment by her manager should not bear any of the blame for continuing to put herself in close proximity to him, a tribunal has ruled.
The number of employers benchmarking their inclusion and equality initiatives for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) workers has more than doubled in the past five years, and "best practice" in this area has evolved significantly, according to employer support organisation Pride in Diversity.
Simple clauses added to existing workplace contracts and policies, rather than dedicated documents, will help employers manage risks posed by workers' out-of-hours conduct, says Hynes Legal associate director Kristin Duff.
An employer that followed a clause in its enterprise agreement "in form rather than substance" when investigating alleged misconduct took an approach that could "only be described as procedurally unfair", the FWC has ruled.
Some employers have successfully stepped up to the task of managing psychosocial safety, but in many other workplaces, initiatives are falling flat. Join us for an HR Daily webinar to understand what's holding back progress in this critical space and how to move forward.
