On February 9, 2010 a Victorian Magistrate handed down fines totaling $330,000 for workplace bullying. The employer was fined $250,000. The employees who subjected their co-worker to bullying were fined between $4,000-$10,000. This is the first major decision in Australia in setting a benchmark for prosecutions in the future.
A person bullies when they do or omit to do something that is repeated, systematic and directed towards an employee or group of employees, that a reasonable person would expect to victimise, humiliate, undermine, threaten or intimidate that person or persons, and which creates a risk to their health and safety.
Bullying is a form of harassment and should not be tolerated.
The recent victimisation case contained terrible allegations involving the bullying of a 19 year old female employee over a period of 15 months that ended with her suicide. One of the allegations involved taunting the employee over a botched suicide attempt and pouring fish sauce over her hair and body. However, many of the allegations were similar to the above list.
The decision should warn all employers in respect of workers and contractors that:
1. You must have a behaviour policy and procedure in place that prohibits bullying, explaining what it is and explaining the risks of being a bully (termination/prosecution);
2. Train and induct all workers and contractors into the policy and procedure;
3. Train managers to detect bullying behavior, to never condone it and to recognise the workplace symptoms that suggest bullying is occurring.
4. As part of the bullying policy and procedure include;
a. An informal path of resolution that is confidential and assists the employee resolve the issue without disciplinary action;
b. A formal investigation process with a disciplinary outcome; and
c. An employee onsite program to support victims of bullying so they stay at work, overcome the issue, have their self-esteem restored and develop resilience.
5. Ensure that all steps of the complaint and solution process are kept, and required to be kept confidential to avoid gossip and workers taking sides in the workplace.
Unless you have the above process it is likely that any disciplinary action taken by you will fail. You must have a bullet proof process and enforce it.
