Workplace Discrimination

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Workplace Discrimination Harassment
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Strategy

• Our organisation shall continue to create and
  maintain a workplace environment where employees
  are safe, free from discrimination or harassment
  and able to reach their full potential.

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What is Discrimination?

• Discrimination occurs when
• A person or group of people is treated less
  favourably than another person or group, based on
  an attribute that is irrelevant in the
  circumstances.
• If the person is treated less favourably in an
  employment situation, this contravenes the Equal
  Employment Opportunity guidelines.
• The intention of the person discriminating
• is irrelevant, it is the impact on the receiver
• that has to be considered.

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Prohibited Grounds
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What is Harassment?

• It is any unwelcome behaviour based on the
  prohibited grounds shown in the previous slide,
  which makes the recipient feel offended,
  embarrassed, intimidated or humiliated.

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What is Sexual Harassment?

• Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome sexual
  behaviour that is offensive, embarrassing,
  intimidating or humiliating.
• It has nothing to do with mutual attraction or
  friendship.

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Examples of Harassment

• Examples of harassment include
• uninvited physical contact or gestures
• intrusive questions or insinuations about a
  persons private life
• offensive communications (letters, phone,e-mail
  etc
• workplace bullying, intimidation or threats of
  any kind
• displays of offensive or pornographic material
  such as posters, pin-ups, cartoons, graffiti

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What is workplace bullying?

• Workplace bullying involves the persistent ill
  treatment of an individual that is harmful,
  intimidating, humiliating or embarrassing.

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Business Issues for any organisation

• Legal Liability
• Financial Costs
• Brand Protection
• Employer of Choice
• (Each is outlined in the following pages)

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Legal Liability

• Employees who engage in discriminatory or
  harassing conduct may be directly liable to
  financially compensate the victim.
• Our organisation can be held liable for any
  discriminatory action or behaviour of its
  employees.
• Legal decisions confirm that employers who take
  specific action to prevent or respond to
  discrimination and harassment in the workplace
  will be supported by the courts.

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Hidden Costs

• As well as legal and compensation costs,
  additional costs potentially include
• Lack of faith in management
• Low productivity and poor quality work
• Increased absenteeism
• Loss of high performance employees
• Recruitment and retraining costs to replace
  employees and
• Loss of business due to adverse publicity.

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Electronic System Surveillance

• Some organisations have the technical capability
  to monitor the use of computers and e-mails and
  will do so where there is suspicion of
  inappropriate material being sourced, stored or
  transmitted.
• (The receipt of offencive e-mail in itself is not
  a breach of policy. However, employees are
  expected to destroy or report those e-mails
  received and discourage the originator from
  sending further e-mails of that kind.)

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Guidelines

• The following pages provide the guidelines for
  determining
• appropriate action where it is established that
  an employee
• has breached the Harassment Policy in particular.
• The guidelines are categorised according to the
  level of
• breach, i.e.,
• - Low Level
• - Medium Level
• - High Level

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Category 1 - Low Level Breach

• Characteristics
• First time behaviour (no pattern), that does not
  involve explicit language, sexual connotations,
  invasive touching.
• Misunderstandings / miscommunication.
• Asking someone out more than once, where the
  person has been ambiguous in saying no.
• .

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Low Level Breach
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Category 2 - Medium Level Breach

• Characteristics
• Repeated actions.
• Person harassed or discriminated against has made
  an effort to indicate that the behaviour is
  unwelcome.
• Behaviour includes foul language or implied
  sexual meaning / intention, or other offensive
  conduct.

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Medium Level Breach
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Category 3 - High Level Breach

• Characteristics
• Breach of organisation policies and/or law with
  intent. That is, the alleged perpetrator knew
  what they were doing.
• Nature of behaviour is particularly vulgar,
  invasive and/or intimate such that it violates
  standards of privacy, decency and professional
  behaviour.

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High Level Breach
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Employer Of Choice

• Becoming an Employer of Choice is part of some
  organisations strategy to attract and retain
  quality staff.
• Workplace discrimination and harassment within
  the workplace compromises the ability to achieve
  this status.

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The Way Forward

• Demonstrate a culture of respect and
  professionalism in all dealings.
• Behaviour by employees that involves
  discrimination or harassment is inconsistent with
  the standards of professional conduct and is not
  to be tolerated.
• Staff at all levels are to be educated and
  reminded of their obligations under EEO through
  workshops and the provision of written material.