A shipping company breached an officer's contract of employment and failed to follow its discrimination policy when it conducted a flawed investigation into alleged bullying by her captain, a full Federal Court has ruled.
A high-level FWC full bench will decide what constitutes being "at work" under the Fair Work Act's bullying regime after hearing argument this morning from three DP World workers, the company, the MUA, ACCI and the AiG.
Another High Court case on the Fair Work Act's protections for employees engaged in union activity might not be far away, according to a leading IR academic, after the CFMEU's appeal against the Federal Court's BHP Coal "scab-sign" ruling was this morning rejected by a 3-2 majority.
A senior member of the Fair Work Commission has told employers they need strong workplace conduct policies and grievance procedures and should select line managers with good interpersonal skills, to help them prevent bullying claims.
Retail and hospitality workers who are sexually harassed by customers at work might not feel they are able to report and deal with the abuse, according to university research.
NSW Public Service Commissioner Graeme Head is seeking to determine why 30% of NSW public sector employees report being bullied in the workplace and almost 50% say they have witnessed it, despite the implementation of a wide range of prevention and management measures.
A Fair Work Commission full bench majority has urged DP World to address an "anti-dobbing" culture that contributed to its failure to curb a supervisor's bullying behaviour, in a decision upholding the company's dismissal of a subordinate he goaded into assaulting him.
Recognising that people who spend their working lives "bearing witness to the trauma and pain of others" rarely remain unaffected, plaintiff law firm Maurice Blackburn has taken steps to address vicarious trauma in its own workplace, according to principal Josh Bornstein.
Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO, has received a mixed report card from an independent investigation into allegations of workplace bullying, which found that while the organisation's work culture wasn't "toxic", its policies had encouraged a "blame the victim" approach.