Employers covered by the Commonwealth WHS Act will receive training on preventing workplace s-xual harassment, under one of a string of safety-related measures included in the Federal Government's 2021-22 budget, delivered last night.
Face masks will be compulsory on public transport and in certain workplaces under COVID-19 restrictions announced for NSW today. Meanwhile, the Western Australian Government has introduced a Bill extending measures and 10-year jail terms aimed at protecting frontline workers from the pandemic.
Laws and strategies created to protect remote health workers from violence, prompted by the murder of South Australian remote-area nurse Gayle Woodford, could be strengthened, with a coronial inquest identifying several concerning omissions.
An employer has unsuccessfully claimed a worker's robbery-related psych injury has resolved and surveillance footage of him participating in creative endeavours shows he is malingering. Such footage "cannot capture the [worker's] psychological state", a tribunal stressed.
A commission has rejected a worker's claim she should not have been dismissed for punching a colleague in the face, shortly after her shift ended, because they were close friends discussing personal matters at the time of the altercation.
A worker who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after being violently assaulted in the course of his employment has been awarded the costs of repairing his backyard "Bali hut", with a tribunal finding the services satisfied the "assisting to cope" test under workers' comp laws.
