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Can you be liable if your workers commit 

harassment?

Thursday, 5th March, 2015, by Alanna Furlan

In today's Health & Safety Bulletin:

• What is harassment?
• When can you be liable for your workers’ behaviour?

Dear Reader,

Harassment is a serious issue. If one of your workers is found to have harassed another person, you could be liable for failing to take appropriate steps to stop the behaviour.

What is harassment?

Harassment doesn’t just have to be sexual. It can include any of the following behaviours:

• making offensive jokes at another person’s expense;
• making inappropriate gestures towards or in the presence of another person;
• ignoring, isolating or segregating a person or group;
• verbally abusing someone or making comments that degrade or belittle them;
• staring or leering at someone in a sexual manner;
• displaying or circulating offensive material in the workplace, e.g. material that is racist, sexist, homophobic or sexually explicit;
• asking intrusive questions about a person’s private life, including their sexual activity; and
• having unwanted physical contact with another person, including of a sexual nature, e.g. kissing, inappropriate touching or hugging.

Continued below…

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When can you be liable for your workers’ behaviour?

If you are aware of offensive behaviour being committed by one of your workers and you do not take steps to address it, you could be liable for failing to keep your workplace free from harassment.

Consider taking the following steps to prevent harassment from occurring in your workplace:

• educate everyone in the workplace about harassment;
• encourage respectful and courteous behaviour among workers;
• put a workplace policy in place that prohibits harassment in the workplace;
• implement training, education, supervision and enforcement of the policy;
• review the policy regularly to ensure it remains effective;
• train supervisors and managers on how to detect harassment in the workplace;
• encourage supervisors and managers to address problem behaviour as soon as they become aware of it, whether or not a formal complaint has been made; and
• respond promptly to any evidence of inappropriate behaviour. This should include a follow-up review to provide support and ensure the wellbeing of the parties involved.

For more information on harassment and how to prevent it, refer to chapter D5 Discrimination and Harassment in your Health & Safety Handbook. Alternatively, find out the advantages of becoming a subscriber.

Until next time,

Alanna Furlan
Editor
Health & Safety Bulletin

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