Good leaders and organisations want to support complainants, and take their complaints seriously. But not every complaint has the same seriousness, actionability, or ring of truth to easily reach consensus on the appropriate workplace response. How can you filter the substantive issues from perceived issues, while bringing all your decision-makers and managers along for the…
Sexual harassment investigations can be harrowing and difficult even for seasoned investigators. Apart from the challenging human side of things, the new legislative definition of sexual harassment does not serve to lighten the investigator’s load. However, the new definition does offer a reasonably clear scope of elements to form the basis of robust interview planning…
The quality of an allegation can make or break your investigation, and the resulting disciplinary or industrial outcomes. We strongly encourage peer review of your allegations before they are issued, but even if you’re working alone this checklist will help you produce quality allegations in every case. Have you got your language and structure right?…
In almost every investigation class, we hear the classic question: what do you do with a “he said, she said”? The reason for this is that most learners have had experience with these challenging cases. Remote work has increased the prevalence of evidence such as this. Teams have become smaller and employees are working more…
Hello learners! We are pleased to announce that our calendar of public short course training sessions for next year is now online. View it here, and check out our exciting new programs as well. You may notice that our calendar does not include locations. This is because we want to put you in control…
Unfair Dismissal Vince Scopelliti – Monday, August 02, 2021 A QLD Worker has won an #UnfairDismissal case after being terminated by his employer for refusing to carry out work that they believed to be unsafe. It was held that the employees have the right to refuse to perform unsafe work that would expose them to […]
Author: Eden Elliott – Tuesday, September 01, 2020. As employers, it can be difficult to classify any of your employees’ work as non-essential when every member of your team brings valuable individual strengths. These decisions can also pose significant risks where employers and employees want different things, sometimes leading to employees submitting appeals or complaints…
Author: Eden Elliott – Wednesday, July 01, 2020. Despite decades of effort and improvement in Australian workplace legislation and culture, sexual harassment is, unfortunately, still a real and prevalent issue, most recently for a former High Court justice. This case highlights the link between power imbalances and harassment behaviour. In 2018, the Australian Human Resources…
Natasha Kennedy-Read and Vince Scopelliti – Tuesday, March 17, 2020 RELIABLE SOLIDARITY IN THE FACE OF COVID-19: We take the health and wellbeing of our people, clients and the broader community seriously. Our risk management team are meeting daily to ensure our continued service, support and protection to our clients, team and community. We are acting…
Natasha Kennedy-Read and Vince Scopelliti – Tuesday, March 17, 2020 The FWC recently found SA CARE’s dismissal of a casual disability care worker to be unfair and ordered compensation. The employee in question was warned off tube-feeding clients due to her lack of certification. In response, she advised that she had been signed off on…