Browsing: Bullying and harassment | Page 5

An employer has been ordered to pay more than $268,000 in damages and compensation to a harassed and victimised worker, with a court rejecting its claim its director's overtures towards the worker, who developed a psychiatric injury, were not s-xual in nature.

A worker's act of sharing offensive material with a group of colleagues on social media involved "abject stupidity", but his conduct was not sufficiently connected to his employment to warrant his dismissal, a Fair Work Commission full bench has found.

• Workplace harassment bystanders advised to take four steps; and
  
• WHS exemption applied to WA mines, department changes name.

Workers' comp claims for "stress" and "burnout" are being axed in Victoria, with the State Government acting on its May 2023 plan to fix the "broken" compensation scheme by cutting benefits.

A worker has unsuccessfully claimed he was subjected to 15 counts of bullying and 13 forms of unlawful adverse action relating to his job responsibilities, with a commission finding all the alleged conduct was reasonable action taken in response to changed operational needs.

An appeals commission has upheld the psychological injury claim from a worker who was ridiculed for pushing for better COVID-safe standards. It rejected his employer's argument that his case was defeated by the fact that an alleged assault never occurred.

Two related companies, and a director who s-xually harassed teenage employees, have been fined a total of $290,000 for workplace safety breaches, with their failings including the absence of a specific reporting process in their online bullying and harassment policy.

• Effective anti-burnout strategy identified; and
  
• Advisory group "key" to eliminating harassment in NSW workplaces.

An employer has been reprimanded for failing to properly discipline a bully and allowing further "reprehensible" conduct to occur, but the victim has been refused stop-bullying orders, after the company made a number of changes to the workplace to make it safe for him to return to work.

A court has rejected a CEO's claim that her employer engaged in a "witch hunt" to find reasons to sack her because she raised safety concerns at a board meeting. It also found that requiring her to obtain a medical certificate to show she was fit for work after she disclosed mental health issues did not constitute adverse action.