Dear Penny,

SA was first! not with an ADB but with the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Racial Discrimination Act 1976. Both were repealed by the SA EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ACT 1984 - but regardless of who was first, I don't think this was actually the point of the article.
The point, as I read it is that there seems to be little consequence for people who harass, bully and discriminate against workmates. If it were me, I wouldn't actually care about which state got it right first, I would be caring about the fact that no-one makes the bully say sorry or stops them, or makes them acknowledge that what they are doing is wrong. And that is pretty sad in 2007.

I made a formal complaint to the Anti-Discrimination board in relation to systematic victimisation, bullying, vilification and discrimination aimed at three of my children spanning over 6 years by staff of the Department of Education that included the manipulation of applications, test scores and documents to discredit my children and to keep them out of selective schools. I had the documentary evidence to support every one of my allegations.

I was told that they would not accept the complaints or investigate the allegations because "It wasn't against the law to discriminate against gifted children".

Apparently discrimination is only against the law if it is because of race, sex, marital status, age etc. The Anti-Discrimination board said I had to prove that what happened was because of their race, sex, age etc., before they would even look at the complaint. It seems that they expect the complainant to produce a confession or documents that prove that what is being done is being done because of race etc?? The fact that what was being done to my children was "obviously wrong" and breached Policies and codes of conduct didn't seem to count.

If bullying and discrimination is fueled by prejudice, malice and/or spite or by the tall poppy syndrome then it is allowed.

The failure of the Anti-Discrimination board to investigate the complaint and the failure of the Department or any of the Investigatory bodies to investigate the complaint has ensured that for the last 7 years my children' have continued to be targeted.

At the end of the day bullying isn't against the law. It's no wonder bullies rule - they are protected.

Jolanda – Education – Keeping them Honest
http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/education/
Our children deserve better.

Good item. That's two good ones in one day. A record for OLP in my opinion. Many items and essentially rubbish, particularly the religion based ones.

I digress. Sorry.

Workplace bullying has been around since Adam and Eve had a workplace dispute about apples. I too suspect Shonga's motives and facts regarding his "problem".

All of us have seen such bullying and most of us do nothing as we are just relieved it's not us. Until it's our turn that is.

I never faced it as such but saw so much of it that I eventually made a stand on behalf of the staff I managed. 30 of them. Guess what? I finished work within 6 months and have not worked since. My problem I guess you'd say but the source was wokplace bullying.

I've seen it up close and it is not only accepted in most workplaces, it's a strategy to cover the failings of many as managers. They can't do the job properly so turn to Neanderthal tactics. Threats and bullying.

Have you ever seen a senior man walk up to a desk where a young lady sits and hear him say "You don't work here any more". And then just walk away and refuse to include that lady in any work related activity. No work given, others made to ignore her or suffer the same. She left of course, shattered. But it took some time and it's toll. Put yourself in her place. Think about it. How would you deal with it if that were your daughter, sister, or partner? What would you do? Nothing is my guess.

Bullying won't go away if we all let it continue. Get off your backsides and oppose it. I know I failed but that's because it's rare to oppose what is everywhere. Cowards pretending to be managers. Over to you.

jolanda

i trust there isn't a next time (of bullying against your children). if there is, clearly they have an age discrimination claim.

direct (unequal treatment) discrimination: if they were not minors, they would have been treated differently - that is, they suffered less favourable treatment by the school authorities, by their complaints not having been taken seriously. if they were adults making complaints about having been illtreated in the school/workplace, the authority would at least have had to have made motions of taking complaints seriously. (see further comment below.)

indirect ('equal' treatment) discrimination: to counter the argument that minors and adults would have been treated 'the same' in making complaints to the school authorities about their having been bullied/suffering harassment, etc, you say: if adults are ignored in such a situation, they have recourse to the courts, they can speak out to media, etc etc; if children are ignored, they have no recourse - cannot launch a case in courts, cannot go to solicitors, etc for advice and possible redress, will not be listened to by media and less likely to find their way to the media, etc.

under the tasmanian *anti-discrimination act* 1998 from october 1999-october 2004 claims of bullying vis-a-vis children at school were accepted for investigation and qualified as discrimination and/or prohibited conduct under the act.

further comment re 'direct' (unequal treatment) discrimination - for all those who wish to say that adults' complaints would not be taken seriously, 'indirect' discrimination applies for children on the basis of age as explained above.

also there may be a claim in contract - nowadays, most people are paying for their children's education, whether in the private sector or public sector (this latter is of course a whole other topic). there may also be a tortious claim of 'trespass against the person'.

SHONGA

You r of course joking when you write
'The only way to stop workplace bullying and intididation is to vote Labor in the coming Federal election.' The Unions are the biggest bullies in our country. Men like Kevin Reynolds make a living out of bullying. Many tradespersons have been sent to the wall by the militant unions who bully and refuse to play their games. In case you did not know many of the union bullies end up with safe labour seats.

Jocelynne, I made a discrimination complaint on various grounds. My public service employer had several solicitors and barristers on staff, including at least one who had worked for the HREOC (I understand). But my employer asked an Aboriginal employee to "review" my complaint. The Aboriginal employee was not qualified in my profession and had no qualifications in law or psychology. In his "review" he simply copied out statements from a huge mass of falsified documents that had been placed secretly on my departmental file. Halfway through the investigation I discovered some of these hidden documents under FOI, but my responses were disregarded. I feel that the Aboriginal employee was being manipulated as a puppet to abuse me. And that I was being discriminated against in that I was educated in a Western thinking style. My experience of Aboriginal discussions suggests to me that Aboriginal people have a different style of thinking. And I am English - I was brought up to discuss issues. I was not brought up to expect or to tolerate public service corruption. My argument would be that the Aboriginal person who was appointed to "review" my complaint came from a different thinking style and from a culture which has experienced generations of public service corruption. Does this seem like discrimination to you?