So far we’ve heard that Bosses ‘lack courage to stop bullying’ and now we’re hearing that current workplace bullying laws are no match for a new breed of workplace psychopaths. Both have a ring of truth to them.
COMPLAINTS of workplace bullying have doubled in Tasmania this year and union leaders say the problem is being covered up by “hush money” payments.
Unions Tasmania chief Kevin Harkins told a Federal Government inquiry that laws were no match for a new breed of “workplace psychopaths”.
“Bullying has changed in the workplace it used to be traditional ‘initiations’ but it’s a lot more complex now it’s bullying by workplace psychopaths and the measures used to deal with it are token measures,” he said.
“Bullying and harassment are now the largest issue in the workplace in Australia and I don’t think anyone yet has their head around it.”
Mr Harkins said the problem was rife in government agencies and he had personal experience of bullying in the workplace which he suspected may have contributed to the suicide of a former colleague.
He said Tasmania said had no equivalent to ‘Brodie’s Law’, anti-bullying legislation with penal provisions named after 19-year-old Melbourne waitress Brodie Panlock who took her own life after relentless workplace bullying
Unions Tasmania senior vice president Nicole Wells told the inquiry the current system of dealing with bullying complaints was complex, expensive and slow and was costing taxpayers dearly.
“We’ve noticed that it’s government departments or government business enterprises where the majority of bullying occurs,” she said.
“What usually happens is that the complainant has to settle for an amount of money. It’s all confidential, so it’s hush money and it’s all covered up.
“We have a system which encouraged secrecy, which involves confidential settlements and usually involve the employee leaving the workplace while the managers who created the problem usually remain in the workplace.
She said that cases in the public sector were of particular concern.
“Every Tasmanian is contributing hush money for conciliations that happen here, plus money through lost productivity.
“I think there are managers who thing it’s good to have workforces which are intimidated and frightened. The system is completely broken.”
Unions Tasmania wants better laws with tougher sanctions for employers who fail to deal with workplace bullying.
Workplace Safety director of operation Neal Buchanan said there were just two inspectors in the entire state able to deal with a growing flood of complaints.
“We are seeing a growth of complaints in this area – we’re seeing a trend. For some reason this year we’ve seen a doubling and there’s no sign of it tailing off.”
He said 17 per cent of complaints came from from the hospitality sector, 12 from retail and 12 from health and community services.
Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Robin Banks said people under 30 were very reluctant to report bullying.
“I suspect there’s a group highly vulnerable to bullying who aren’t represented in the data,” she said.
If you want to report a case of workplace bullying call Workplace Standards 1300 366 322.
Support and information about suicide prevention is available at Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.
Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1MA9G-2TH
It’s very disturbing yet I believe very true. Even I was offered hush money after relentless bullying and for “f*cking up my return to work” [their own words]! This hush money came from a large, reputable public hospital! Unfortunately for that hospital and the despicable people involved they were so stupid as to text me the offer of initially $5000 then $6000 via phone. I did not accept. Was it a surprise that I found myself (unlawfully) sacked shortly after the bribe?
You can see now why I am so passionate about marrying anti-bullying laws with abuses in the workers compensation system.
http://aworkcovervictimsdiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bribe.jpg
Yes I can see why you (and I) are so passionate about it, it happens every day to countless injured workers. The worst thing is that it’s about vulnerable people’s livelihood, and that, as the article states, many bullied (vulnerable people) will most often have NO OPTION but feel they have to accept a secret deal (hush money) as to keep their employment (=livelihood) or even a reference (for another job)…whilst the bullies walk away, as if NOTHING happened. This culture of secrecy is so ingrained in many organisations, particularly health care and welfare orgs. There really needs to be protection in place for whistleblowers.
Hush money? How does a public hospital justify that amount of money from their budget? Guarenteed you would not be the first to be offered. Now, how much patient care was sacrificed to protect those bullies? Obviously those who were offering have more loyalty to their secret organisation and it’s covert operations than patients. They are so confident in their corruption they assume everyone can be bought and silenced by dirty money. As a tax payer, I want my hard earned dollars to be treating patients than spent trying to coerce someone into accepting a bribe to protect criminals. Our government should be taking bribery scenarios seriously. I don’t understand why these allegations haven’t been taken seriously and investigated. That deserves an explanation too!
The worst part for me at the time was that I sought desperate help and support as well as representation from my union (sadly a nursing union!) – the union industrial officer was coercing me to please take the bribe “and run”. They are all “in it” together, that is the frightening part.
very very true !! Was the bully a registered nurse or midwife ?? or a former one and in the union too!!
Several people were involved in the bullying, none were nurses. They involved RTW “Coordinator”, the Director of “wellbeing”; and 2 rehab sevice “managers” provided by Xchanging from IPAR rehabilitation.
Nevertheless the bribing came from the Director of HR and the industrial relations officer of the VIC nurses union was certainly part of the deal, encouraging me to take the “offer”.
I was gobsmacked.
By then I was a literally made ill by the bullying and on the verge of taking my own life…
Thanks God perhaps that my own psychologist had witnessed some of those bullying events first hand as she regularly accompanied me to these “RTW meetings”.
I am still extremely traumatized by the event and have trouble writing about it.
I find it utterly disgusting that employers are allowed to and still do bribe bullied workers…fragile injured workers who have been made so ill from it that they very nearly committed suicide. And for that they “offer” them “$5000″ hush hush money…????
All I can say is that I cannot wait for my day in court.
I agree with John, Trinny and workcovervictim.
Hush money or better still it’s really a huge bribe for u to go away, has been in the hospital system in all states and there is provisions in hospital budgets for this.
I’m concerned that this is still allowed !!
There should and will be criminal laws for bullying and harassment in every state the way by the increase in claims .
In my instant the bully has been on “unplanned leave” for over half this year .
What is unplanned leave ?
Apparently it can be a lot of types of leave.
Funny it is never mentioned or any evidence is available on the NSW Health site and is not mentioned in any policy and procedure manual even on any local health district website !!
The offer of money is certainly not acceptable to most injured workers who simply want management to model exemplary behaviour in dealing with bulying in the work environment. This desired behaviour includes managers acknowledgement the issue existed in the first place, want management to deal with matters in a timely and effective manner, management to maintain lines of communication with victim, advise any delays in investigations and expected completion of matter and of course see the offender leave the workplace rather than the victim.
If money is your goal then take it and hope you can enjoy it.