Proposed laws for protecting NSW public servants, and others excluded from the Fair Work Act's anti-bullying provisions, should complement the Commonwealth legislation and be overseen by the State IRC, according to State Greens MP David Shoebridge.
Australian researchers have developed a special hierarchy of controls for tackling psychosocial hazards such as bullying and harassment, and outlined a best-practice approach to risk assessment.
Workplace fatality rate creeping up in NSW; Presumptive cancer comp laws to cover all WA firefighters; and Queensland launches bullying and harassment review.
The High Court's decision in Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker has "allayed the fears" of employers by blocking a new avenue for them to be sued over workplace bullying and other issues, according to Sparke Helmore Lawyers.
The Fair Work Commission's first substantive stop-bullying order has been amended to remove some of the less practical conditions required of the respondent.
The Fair Work Commission will allow an employer to be represented by a lawyer in an anti-bullying case to speed up the process, but has rejected its alternative claim that its managers and the alleged bullies are incapable of representing the company or themselves.
A worker who suffered a psychiatric injury when she was turned down for a promotion has been awarded workers' compensation, after the AAT found her manager - who held her in "very low regard" - should have been excluded from the recruitment process.
The $130,000 Oracle s-xual harassment case shows that "well-intentioned but unskilled attempts" to respond to workers' complaints can cause as much damage as harassment itself, according to a lawyer.
