A workplace manager did not bully a worker, but their employer dealt with the worker's grievances "clumsily", allowing misconstrued interactions to build up to a point where the mental health of both employees was affected, a commission has found.
A full supreme court has ruled on who bears the onus of proving whether an injury was caused by reasonable management action, in a case involving a performance-managed worker forced to record all his movements in a spreadsheet.
Workers often see referrals to employee assistance programs as "cloaking punishment", but establishing workplace EAP committees that liaise with vendors can help eradicate pushback, a human resources management expert says.
A "critical and insensitive" manager who routinely swore at his subordinates in an attempt to motivate them to meet purported "German demands" has lost his adverse action case, with a court finding his behaviour warranted instant dismissal and he wasn't the victim of WHS breaches.
The recent major review of a safety regulator should prompt employers to adopt a "two birds, one stone" mindset for managing their health and safety and human resources practices, a senior safety lawyer says.
A major employer has been found, for the second time, to be liable for a psychological injury sustained by a worker subjected to a "stringent" rule - banning him from speaking to female colleagues without supervision - while harassment allegations against him were investigated.
A worker who was required to take on management duties and sack a worker, despite not being trained in such processes, has been awarded compensation for a psychological injury, with a commission rejecting her employer's reasonable-action defence.
An "exasperated" manager did not bully workers by using allegedly hostile tones to "hustle" them to get on with their tasks, a commission has found, highlighting that managers are "entitled to some latitude" when assessing the manner they adopt to supervise personnel.
The Federal Court has ordered a redetermination of whether a worker's injury was caused by customer aggression or reasonable administrative action, finding an earlier decision in favour of the man failed to apply the correct legal test.
