Sexual harassment too often hidden

Just because you don’t hear of sexual harassment in your organisation doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

That’s the warning to bosses and managers from Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick in the wake of the landmark $37 million claim against retail giant David Jones and its former chief executive Mark McInnes.

Kristy Fraser-Kirk, a 25-year-old former publicity co-ordinator at DJs, lodged the claim in the Sydney Federal Court and asked that any damages awarded be paid to a charity that helps victims of sexual harassment and bullying.

Both DJs and McInnes will defend the charges.

Broderick says allegations of sexual harassment have the potential to foul reputations and brands as well as seriously affect the company’s ability to recruit and retain quality staff.

”At a time when we’re moving into a skills shortage, smart companies want to be seen as employers of choice so they can attract and keep the best people,” Broderick says.

But sexual harassment isn’t the only systemic scourge in Australian workplaces.

Two female air traffic controllers recently launched legal action over alleged repeated bullying, abuse and discrimination while working for Airservices Australia, a government-owned agency responsible for managing air traffic.

The women claim they were belittled for being pregnant, told that part-time work was not welcome and, in one case, exposed to pornography.

They are each seeking compensation of more than $1 million for breaches of the Sex Discrimination Act, Fair Work Act, Workplace Relations Act and Occupational Health and Safety laws.

And last month, the Fair Work Ombudsman launched its first pregnancy discrimination case since the Fair Work Act was introduced. In that case, a 36-year-old mum alleges her employer told her pregnancy had caused inconvenience to the firm and that a second employee had been hired to replace her.

The commercial printing firm faces a maximum penalty of $33,000 for each breach while its two directors each face a maximum penalty of $6600 for each breach.

Broderick says the cases justify her calls for the Sex Discrimination Commissioner to have greater rights to investigate workplaces where harassment is prevalent.

”There’s no power to investigate at the moment so it relies on one individual woman putting her hand up and saying `I’m being harassed’ which is why so few cases come through the court,” the commissioner says.

”Our research has shown 22 per cent of women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace but, of those, only 16 per cent brought a complaint compared with 32 per cent five years ago.”

Lack of faith in complaint processes and the fear of damaging their careers are some reasons preventing workers from coming forward.

Gerard Phillips, a workplace relations and safety lawyer at national firm Middletons, told a recent Boardroom Radio Australia webcast that many workers – particularly executives and managers – ”exercise judgment” about making a formal complaint.

They weigh up the extent of the harassment against the potential damage a complaint could cause to their careers as well as their working environments.

Phillips said many workers opt to make informal complaints to human resource departments which often resulted in matters being handled internally and privately.

While the victim may be satisfied with the outcome of this, Phillips conceded it allowed ”serial harassers” to move from one organisation to another without their past behaviour being revealed. ”(But) if the individual victim doesn’t want the matter to go further, or is happy with how the employer has handled the matter – and with the outcome – it should end there,” he told the webcast.

The real key to quashing sexual harassment, he said, was ensuring a robust complaints-making process that was confidential and respectful.

Part of the fear in making a complaint, he said, was being unaware of the process and having to ”leap into the unknown”.

Broderick, in her Gender Equality Blueprint launched in June, called for a national prevention strategy where government, agencies and business all played a role in educating workforces and investigating complaints to combat the scourge. ”Harassment is alive and well in many Australian workplaces,” she says.

But we’re not alone. In the US, lawyers are warning HR professionals and employers that allegations of male-on-male and female-on-male harassment are on the rise.

”Employers should not only be aware of this trend, but also understand how to identify all forms of sexual harassment and adjust their harassment policies accordingly,” warns Ogletree Deakins lawyer Ron Chapman in a recent edition of online magazine Workforce Week.

”By helping employees rethink the definition of sexual harassment, employers improve the likelihood of a harassment-free workplace.”