What Is Harrassment and What Is Our Attitude To Conflict In The Workplace
Policy with respect to Harassment – Legislation
Intimidation, hostility, offensiveness, sexual harassment, and unfair discrimination in the workplace are examples of unacceptable behaviour and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
Sexual harassment is recognised as a form of sex discrimination, and is illegal under the State Anti-Discrimination Acts, and the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act 1984. It is also considered by the business to be inappropriate workplace behaviour.
Harassment is intimidation, hostility, offensiveness or sexual harassment. Harassment also includes unfair discrimination. Personality clashes between staff does not constitute harassment.
Definitions of Harassment
- Intimidation: Any form of behaviour by a person that inspires fear in another person in order to influence conduct.
- Hostility: Opposition of thought, unfriendly behaviour or active dislike of another person, which causes that person to feel great discomfort in the offending person’s presence and which consequently affects work performance and satisfaction.
- Offensiveness: An aggressive, physical act in the form of an attack; or insulting language that is intended to cause anger, outrage, feelings of annoyance, hurt or humiliation.
- Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is any form of sexual attention that is unwelcome and unsolicited. It may be unwelcome touching or other physical contact, remarks with sexual connotations in relation to a person’s body, smutty jokes, offensive telephone calls, unwelcome and uncalled for remarks or insinuations about a person’s sex or private life, indecent exposure, demands or requests for sexual favours, leering, the display of offensive material, indecent molestation or sexual assault/rape.
Sexual harassment can be a single incident or a series of repeated incidents; it depends upon the circumstances.
Obviously, some actions or remarks are so offensive that they constitute sexual harassment in themselves, even if they are not repeated.
Other single incidents, such as an unwanted invitation, compliment or a trivial joke may not constitute sexual harassment if they are not repeated.
Preventing Harassment
An important aspect of good working relationships is that everyone must be able to work in an environment free from harassment that is:
- Sexual or sex-based
- Racial
- Relates to a person’s
- Marital Status
- Disability
- Age
- Pregnancy
- Homosexuality (Real or Assumed)
Prevention of harassment is a key goal of the business.
Role of Staff
All employees have a responsibility to prevent harassment from occurring in the workplace. You should become familiar with the definitions of behaviour constituting harassment.
Complaints of Harassment
Employees are encouraged to discuss a complaint of harassment with management who will endeavour to resolve the situation quickly, confidentially and fairly.
In the event that an employee is dissatisfied with the outcome of an internal process, or they do not wish to follow the internal procedures, they have a right to use external procedures. They may lodge a complaint under the Anti-Discrimination Legislation with the (State) Anti-Discrimination Commission.
Disciplinary action will be taken against any one who is found to have harassed a co-worker, sub-contractor, client or customer. Depending on the circumstances, discipline may involve a warning, counselling, or dismissal.
All employees have an important role in the implementation of this Policy and shall be committed to the achievement of a safe and productive work culture.
Tips
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Traps
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