Any form of workplace abuse, be it bullying, sexual or non-sexual harassment, or other forms of workplace violence, represents a significant problem for both workers and organisations. The reality that worker complaints of such abuse are often silenced, frequently for long periods of time, has recently been spotlighted by the #MeToo movement. In this article we focus particularly on workplace bullying (some definitions include harassment). We explore how potential, and actual, complaints of such abuse may silenced—both before complaints are ever made, and also at different points along the complaint or dispute resolution process. We investigate how definitional and naming issues, worker ignorance and incapacity, workplace investigations, (alternative) dispute resolution and the legal pathways available to targets of workplace bullying and harassment may act to silence complaints. We also provide some practical suggestions for the targets of workplace abuse.
Do university legal clinics, clinical legal educators and health practitioners have a role to play in building the resilience of law students to better equip them to manage their academic studies and their professional lives as they move into legal practice? Given that mental health issues such as depression and anxiety are rife across Australia’s law student and legal professional populations, we wondered if developing a legal clinic model in collaboration with a university-based health service would offer one way to address these concerns.
In this article, we identify and discuss individual and organisational factors which contribute to bully victims’ or targets’ decisions about whether or not to voice complaints about workplace bullying in Australian workplaces. This article examines the costs of voice and silence in workplace bullying matters for both targets and organisations. ‘Voice’ is understood as existing on a continuum, which ranges from informally voicing concerns about bullying behaviour to making a formal complaint or report within the workplace or to an external agency. The ‘silence’ of workplace bullying is also considered to exist on a continuum and may include things such as not raising the bully issue at all, exiting the workplace rather than addressing the issue, and ‘being silenced’ by external influences after having made a complaint. We suggest some organisational changes to facilitate the reporting and better handling of bullying complaints.
In this article, we look at how procedural fairness in workplace investigations into allegations of workplace misconduct may be problematic. Through an analysis of some case law and the survey findings from five experienced investigators, we examine how the process can be flawed by a lack of fairness, neutrality and timeliness. Having then looked at the costs of flawed investigations, the article concludes with suggestions from the Court and those at the coalface on how best to ensure procedural fairness occurs.
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