Our week at work, August 30-September 5

By Josephine Asher
The landmark $37 million sexual harassment case against David Jones has put the spotlight on sexual harassment in the workplace.
In this week’s first day of directions hearing on the case, Kristy Fraser-Kirk’s lawyers claimed she is as many as seven who allege to have been harassed by former CEO Mark McInnes.
The Australian’s contributing editor Peter Van Onselen wrote in a commentary piece on Wednesday that David Jones has discovered the issue can seriously damage a company.
“If the David Jones case has taught businesses anything, it is that a company seen not to have adequate mechanisms in place for dealing with alleged sexual harassment can suffer brand damage when such claims become public,” he writes.
READ MORE: Culture key to stopping workplace harassment
Another court case that has sparked interest in the media this week is that of a Qantas flight attendant who was demoted after being deported from China for practising Falun Gong.
Sheridan Genrich, of Sydney, was detained in November 2008 during a stopover in Beijing.
Chinese authorities found a copy of Zhuan Falun – the main Falun Gong text – and copies of the Falun Gong-founded Epoch Times newspaper in her luggage.
China banned Falun Gong in 1999, calling it a dangerous cult.
Genrich’s legal counsel, Shane Prince, said Qantas had failed to “stand up for its employee.”
READ MORE: Qantas ‘demoted me for being Falun Gong’
Meanwhile, in the legal domain, the Victorian government is pushing for legal firms to restrict using billable hours.
Attorney-General Rob Hulls intends to give government, businesses and consumers greater certainty about their legal bills.
About 7 per cent of the government’s legal work is covered by fixed-price agreements and about 8 per cent is covered by capped fees.
“I am absolutely determined to see this rate increase significantly over the next year,” he says.
READ MORE: State government declares war on the tyranny of the time sheet
Victoria is also set to experience changes on the equal opportunity front.
Employers will be required to take 18 grounds of discrimination into account when new powers given to the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission take effect in August next year.
The commission will then be able to investigate a matter without a complaint being made.
The commission wants employers to parents work part-time or from home, give women equal pay to men, and ensure low-income workers are paid the same as their peers.
READ MORE: New powers to ensure equality from employers
And on the eve of Equal Pay Day (Saturday, September 4), shocking new research has revealed working women are paid less than their male counterparts today than they were in the 1970s.
Women were earning on average 88 per cent of the male average wage in 1977 but that had fallen back to just 82 per cent in May 2010, research by KPMG shows.
READ MORE: Something truly irritating – Equal Pay Day
Acting Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) Director Mairi Steele encouraged Australian businesses to focus on the gender pay gap in their organisation.
“Equal Pay Day marks the 66 extra days – three days more than 2009 – that women have to work after the end of the financial year to earn the same as men,” she said.
READ MORE: Working women better paid in the ’70s
The gender pay gap is greatest in the financial and banking sector. While the overall gender pay gap in Australia is 18 per cent, the gap in the finance sector is 28 per cent, according to ME Bank.
But these results were despite numbers of women appointed on boards tripling in the past year.
So far this year 36 women have been appointed to ASX 200 boards, compared with only 10 for the whole of last year, statistics released by the Australian Institute of Company Directors revealed.
READ MORE: Female board appointments triple to 10 per cent
But the post GFC conditions have not helped conditions for women.
Employers are using counter offers to keep banking and financial staff and are willing to pay more to keep their male employees, according to a recent survey by recruitment firm Marks Sattin Australia.
It found that the number of men and women offered more money to stay was about equal. However, of those 25 per cent of the men surveyed were offered 20 per cent or more to stay compared to just 15 per cent of the women.
READ MORE: ‘Defensive’ employers use money to cling to staff
But for some people looking to change jobs, money isn’t the issue.
Getting through a job interview can be nerve-racking enough but when you have an anxiety disorder the very thought can be paralysing.
CareerOne editor Kate Southam spoke to Anne Drury-Godden about her employment service to help people with anxiety and panic disorders.
Drury-Godden provides a holistic service tailored to each individual including career guidance and resume and interview coaching. She even accompanies her clients to job interviews, waits outside for them and then debriefs on how they went.
“Anxiety is a poorly understood problem. I’ve seen candidates told to just pull themselves together and attend a job interview but for someone with anxiety that is a huge task,” she says.
READ MORE: Anxiety and the job hunt
Now that springtime has begin, those looking to maximise their time outdoors can read about CareerOne’s top five best jobs to hold in September, October and November in terms of a comfortable work environment and workload.
