Having read numerous reports on the escalating of workplace harassment the line between it being a criminal offence is drawn because most victims have described mental health issues due to this and not a physical attack.
If we were to address legislation how would it appear?
yvon52

YVON 52... this might come as a shock...but.. IT IS a criminal offense.

The difficult part is proving it.

But the other side to that coin is.. "lazy or deceptive opportunistic work attitudes" should also be an offense.

I don't doubt that SOME bullying or harrassment is just perceived as that by people who simply want the money but not the work and resent being pushed a bit to do what they are paid to do!

But that's just part of the story. Yes of course there are genuine cases of bullying (if it's physical it's called ASSAULT).

KEY....SOLUTION.. "evidence"

'Assault' isn't just physical contact.

BOAZ_David
"The difficult part is proving it"
The difficult part is not to prove it, the difficult part is the authorities to be ready to protect the employees, even the migrants from bullying and harassment in the workplace and IT IS EVEN MORE DIFFICULT TO KEEP YOUR JOB WHEN YOU ASK FOR PROTECTION FROM THE AUTHORITIES.
I do not think that employers and authorities are ready to protect employees, especialy migrants, women, young people from bullying and harassment in the workplaces.
I know very well from experiences in Australia what means bullying and harassment in the workplace.
About the cost from it, it is huge, we will see at the end!
Antonios Symeonakis
ADELAIDE

Agreed, asking for help is often hard or even futile.

It's getting people to admit it and then stand up...they mostly won't... in part I think they are frightened of her or being seen as dobbers and the effort is to much to do something. They, the victim and the witness, can manage to live with it... so do... thinking, maybe it'll stop later etc.

It's a bullying and fear of acting on it.

Sorry that doesn't read clear:

"in part I think they are frightened of *her* or"

*her* was an example (my violent drunken neighbor) I had used and then decided to edit out...

Please read it as *it* being the the neighbor is the bully

BOAZ_David: << "lazy or deceptive opportunistic work attitudes" should also be an offense (sic). >>

That's just scary. You frequently mention Orwell - I suggest you actually read some of his stuff.

The bullers are authoritarian characters with low maturity, responsibility and sensitivity.
I supposed they grew up in a bad environment, where the human integrity, personality was not respected.
These persons do not understand what mean human integrity or self respect.
Usually bulers are right BUT THERE ARE MANY LEFT BULLERS TOO.
They are YES men, the only way to savvy of cause their bad behave. They are very submissive to the managment and very authoritarian, hard and violently to persons unter them.
These cheap, dirty, uncivilized persons create HUGE PROBLEMS TO MIGRANTS, MUSLIMS, WOMEN OR YOUNG EMPLOYEES.
It is very usefull if we could sent some of them in prison, in other case Australia will pay hard of cause the bullers in workplaces
They destroy lifes, destroy families, they create HUGE problems in the relations between Anglo and not Anglo Australians.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Under Federal Anti-Discrimination Law an employer, regardless of size, may be legally responsible for discrimination and harrassment which occurs in the workplace.

Employers must actively implement precautionary measures to minimise the risk of discrimination and harrassment occuring.

See the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity.com information about anti-discrimination policies and complaint handling and workplace bullying.

Visit Workplace Ombudsman website for Workplace Rights and Rules.

Contact the Workplace Authority 'Workplace Infoline.'

Did you FOXY come from an other planet?
If an employee follow youe advices brobably he/she would lose her/his job and never again find one.
Do you know how many ways have employers to suck an employee, if they want? Ouuou!!
Do you know how difficult is to find your rightfrom discrimination in Australia? Read the report of Human Rights Commission of UN, about Australia.
Many times the law created only as a cover!
You know that in the White Australia time, any migrant had the right for citizenship test? No one from non Anglos passed it! because it was unknown language, for non Anglo migrants.
The BIG question is if there is the willing from to protect employees from bullying and harassment in the workplace.
My answer, from my experiences in Australia for more than 15 years is N_O.
THE LAW CAN NOT BREAK THE THICK WALLS OF THE BUSINESS.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Boaz, "lazy or deceptive opportunistic work practises should also be an offense". No, just sack-able. You just can't legislate a good work ethic. I take your point that 'bullying' may be co-workers' intolerance of bludgers. I've seen plenty of this.

Likewise, any decent group will quite naturally weed out real bullies if given the chance. Legislation already exists, but short of an Orwellian/Ruddian utopia workability will always be flawed.

See you in the re-education camp bro.

I don't know that a group always does weed out the bullies... I think in reality often the bullies win, what they win is stuff like territory or being top dog or what ever...

They do this with intimidation, like social pressure not to be seen as a dobber or get the bully or their mates on your back...

They win also by mis-using legislation, claiming victimization that may not be so...

My theory is that bulling and the various bad behaviors are like a regression to grade 7 for all of us... I think it might be worth looking into stopping trying to force it to stop as I doubt it will.

IE: Even when people are polite as pie, with the sweetest smile they can be so nasty too...

Maybe a different approach, separate people at work rather than try and force resolution of a conflict..

Dear Antonios,

Industrial Relations is a complex issue. And as you point out,
complaints don't always succeed. However, there have been cases
where they have succeeded. Where there was strong support from
other staff members (they backed the victimized staff member), and
strong union support, backed by a legal team.

The fact remains that there are laws in place. It is a matter of
gathering evidence and getting the right legal advice. Nobody
should have to put up with harrassment and bullying at work.
It takes courage to go up against any employer or immediate department
head. However the employee does have a choice. Lodge a complaint or
leave. Often the organisation may not be aware of what a supervisor is
doing. The chances also could be that it may not be the only complaint that the organisation receives about that particular person. The more complaints they receive, the stronger the case against that person will be.

Once a complaint has been received, the organisation can no longer
ignore matters. They have to investigate a complaint. Otherwise they are in breach of the law, which in itself is an offense.
Most organisations value their reputations so they will look into
any complaint that is made against any member of their Administrative
Staff.

My advice to any staff member undergoing harrassment or bullying at
work is seek legal help and find out if you do have a case.

"Once a complaint has been received, the organisation can no longer ignore matters. They have to investigate a complaint. Otherwise they are in breach of the law, which in itself is an offense."

That's not always the case, Foxy.

For example, defence force veterans have been hollering for years for compo for diseases that have been brought on by the actions/decisions of their commanders. What has happened to them is about as bad as can happen. Yet, they are still ignored. It all come down to risk for the organisation concerned versus how strong they are relative to everyone else. Sorry, but evolutionary Darwinism is still well and truly alive.

RobP,

I guess I do live on another planet as Antonios
suggested.

I had totally forgotten about the Defense Forces.
I now remember - the many cases of bullying that
occurred of both males and females in the armed forces
with little action being taken.

Thanks for reminding me.

Wow...thanks everyone
All of your comments have been taken onboard. Unfortunately some of the legal things we do continue the victimisation way beyond any workplace. The role models we would like to think are behaving correctly are often the in depth culture of all of those workplace mobbing actions...politicians, govt.departments
yvon52

i thought it already was as their have been court cases won about being bullied , remember the school boy who got over a million dollars pay out by the courts because he got bullied at school and couldn't be back ever again,

their have also been cases of the work force in the courts and have won

bulling has been around for many many years we all know that ,and still continues ,as every thing ,

their is still abuse to children thats bulling

i could go on

the law works for only those who the judge feels fit to except in a case to win , and a persons past ,

bulling is every where so the law should cover everything

see the thing with our laws they are not been applied and are being relaxed and have been for far too long ,

its just like when say a job postion is up for grabs in the same work enforcement and a employee applies for it but they end up employing someone who has never did that job before gets it, then the person underneath has to show that person what to do, i would call that bulling becuase if the person denies to help they end up in the shet,and this is another form of bulling

yes it should be a criminal offence

it should be a criminal offence every time they change the members of parliment portfolio, the people of australia should be voting these people into these jobs not just the premier or the prime minister they have to re read how the job discrption works

before long it will be a crime to back answer your child or tell them what to do we are not allowed to smack a child correct

Foxy good news
U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation into law Thursday making it easier for employees to sue for wage discrimination, a measure he said is an important step toward "fundamental fairness" for U.S. workers.
Under the new law, employees can sue six months after the last paycheck they receive that is less than other employees at their level.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200901291333DOWJONESDJONLINE000757_FORTUNE5.htm

It interesting to note in my case.as it was acommunity group that was government funded where the dept workers knew what they were doing to me and my relief worker and supported the management in doing so..they planned the attack on me while i was leave recovering from cancer..then when i returned to work it begain inearnest but at least the insurance has accepted liability..as for laws well companies are suppose to be fined but this place despite a number of incidents has not been...I am not giving up jus confused about the direction..The suggestion workplace omnsbudman maybe an avenue,thanks
Vonn