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.
An HR manager acted inappropriately in sending the details of her bullying complaint against her CEO to a potential witness who worked for another company, the Federal Circuit Court has ruled in dismissing her adverse action claim.
Employers have little to fear from the Fair Work Commission's new anti-bullying jurisdiction, with a "high number" of the applications received so far being resolved quickly and helping companies improve their HR practices, a conference has heard.
