Suspended Sydney Flames basketball coach Shane Heal's failed claim that he was targeted for exercising workplace rights has highlighted the factors that constitute a safety complaint under employment law.
A worker who was bullied and called a "s-x offender" by colleagues, after being charged with historical abuse offences, has been awarded compensation for a psychological injury, with a commission hearing the bullying included being excluded from Christmas functions, and dismissing the employer's reasonable action defence.
An appeals commission has upheld a decision in favour of a worker who suffered a psychological injury from her employer's initial communications on a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. It rejected the employer's reasonable disciplinary action defence on the basis that the worker was injured before this action occurred.
A workplace manager did not bully a worker, but their employer dealt with the worker's grievances "clumsily", allowing misconstrued interactions to build up to a point where the mental health of both employees was affected, a commission has found.
A full supreme court has ruled on who bears the onus of proving whether an injury was caused by reasonable management action, in a case involving a performance-managed worker forced to record all his movements in a spreadsheet.
A worker who claims his schizophrenia was exacerbated by workplace bullying and harassment has been denied compensation, with a commission accepting the exacerbation was probably caused by a medical error.
A "critical and insensitive" manager who routinely swore at his subordinates in an attempt to motivate them to meet purported "German demands" has lost his adverse action case, with a court finding his behaviour warranted instant dismissal and he wasn't the victim of WHS breaches.
Disingenuous attempts by companies to curb s-xual harassment in response to increased attention on the matter are damaging the chances for change, according to the latest instalment of a landmark Australian study.
