Browsing: Psychosocial issues | Page 135

Allowing work emails to be sent after hours or mismanaging structural change can contribute to mentally unhealthy work environments, the chair of the Mental Health Council of Australia has warned.

The Federal Government's termination of Safe Work Australia member grants will diminish the ability of unions and employer groups to improve workplace safety, a Labor Senator has warned. Meanwhile, the Coalition's plan to amend the new anti-bullying laws has been omitted from it first tranche of Fair Work changes, introduced yesterday.

A high proportion of the 70-odd workers who have applied for stop-bullying orders so far claim they are being bullied by their supervisors, but the Fair Work Act's broad definition of "reasonable management action" could thwart many of these claims, according to FW Commissioner Anna Lee Cribb.

The AAT has chastised a manager for insensitively performance managing an injured worker with a history of stress, and upheld the worker's appeal.

Workers who apply to the Fair Work Commission for a stop-bullying order cannot claim they were "bullied at work" prior to 1 January 2014, because the anti-bullying laws didn't apply at the time, the Australian Industry Group will argue in a test case today.

The NSW WCC has found that workplace conflict didn't cause a worker's psychological injury, and that the timeframe for an investigation into his alleged misconduct was reasonable.

The Fair Work Commission has described a union's defence of a worker who was sacked for a serious drug breach as "illogical", but stressed that dismissing workers shouldn't be the automatic response to failed workplace drug tests.

Asking colleagues who exhibit suicidal warning signs, such as talking about tidying up affairs, if they are suicidal won't "tip them over the edge", but "provide a starting point for a solution", a new suicide position statement says.

Bullied worker wins $500k in international dispute; and Company officer fined for exposing people to deadly bat virus in Queensland.

FIFO workers can manage fatigue and loneliness at remote sites by reducing their consumption of alcohol and energy drinks, and getting involved in local community activities, a new guidance note says.