Browsing: Bullying | Page 12

A tribunal has found an interpreter suffered a compensable psychological injury from her perception of being bullied while deployed to Nauru, finding a regulator's reasonable-management-action defence failed through its inability to prove such action occurred.

• SWA outlines four-step process against psychosocial hazards; and
  
• ISO 45003 guide updated to reflect WHS reforms.

A commission has rejected an employer's claim that a worker's psychological injury arose out of reasonable management action relating to his poor performance, ruling it resulted from workplace bullying and harassment long before any performance appraisal occurred.

Weak WHS standards and poor complaint processes for victims of bullying and harassment have emerged, again, as major concerns in parliamentary workplaces. The latest review into the issue, this time in Tasmania, has made recommendations around HR functions that should be noted by all organisations.

Through the development of an evidence-based screening tool, and an analysis of complaints made to a WHS regulator, researchers have found the risk of workplace bullying increases through ineffective people management by supervisors, across nine major risk areas.

In a report providing important lessons for all employers and workers' compensation schemes, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has highlighted the link between complex claim systems and poor mental health outcomes, and the "ongoing and often devastating impact" of workplace abuse that arises from "hyper-masculine cultures" and other factors.

A commission has upheld a worker's claim she suffered a psychological injury from being bullied by her supervisor, condemning the employer for rejecting her compensation bid with no legal or medical basis.

A superior court has confirmed that a worker who was exposed to bullying and racist taunts by a colleague suffered a compensable psychological injury, rejecting his employer's claim his pre-existing mental health issues blocked his access to benefits.

A tribunal has upheld a decision to deny compensation to an Australian Federal Police officer who sustained a psychological injury from being disciplined for drinking a beer at an overseas workplace, finding his position required a particularly high standard of behaviour.

With employers increasingly facing the challenge of managing workplace behaviour and conduct across a hybrid environment, a leading workplace lawyer has highlighted the key steps they can take to maintain a positive work culture, prevent bullying and harassment, and comply with their duty of care in the hybrid working world.