A Bad Business - Part D: Conclusion

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A Bad Business

(Review of sexual harassment in employment complaints 2002)

Part D: Conclusion

Complaints
of sexual harassment are a significant issue for women in the workplace,
with the overwhelming majority of complaints of sexual harassment coming
from women. In addition to the personal impact of such harassment, there
is also a significant impact on these women’s employment, with
at least three out of four complainants no longer actively working for
the organisation where the alleged harassment occurred by the time they
report the harassment to HREOC. [75] These women have been dismissed, made redundant, resigned, or are off
work on unpaid leave, sick leave or workers’ compensation.

Sexual harassment reported to HREOC
is significantly gendered; the complaints that HREOC receives indicate
that sexual harassment by men of women is occurring throughout Australian
workplaces. This harassment typically involves significant power differentials,
with harassment committed by individuals who are older and hold more
senior positions within an organisation. The harassment begins relatively
soon after employment commences, involves multiple forms of harassing
behaviour, and typically occurs on multiple occasions. The harassment
often starts as verbal harassment and then proceeds to physical harassment.

Those who reported sexual harassment
worked across the range of occupations but were concentrated in a small
number of occupations, reflecting the gender segregation in the Australian
workforce.

The data show that harassment remains
an issue for small, medium and large business in city, rural and remote
rural areas. Many workplaces either do not have a sexual harassment
policy or have not implemented their policy, leaving themselves open
to vicarious liability for the harassment. In addition, it is evident
that businesses bear significant costs due to staff turnover in the
event of harassment. This is despite the fact that the majority of sexual
harassment complaints had been reported to a senior person within the
workplace. Reasons for proceeding with a complaint to HREOC included
dissatisfaction with the internal process for handling the complaint,
or that the workplace had ignored the complaint.

These findings have clear implications
for workplaces. They imply significant staff turnover costs for employers
as a result of sexual harassment, in addition to possible negative impacts
on productivity and workplace culture. The data indicate that there
is more that employers could do to prevent sexual harassment and to
address it where it does occur. For example, this could include:

That said, it should be remembered
that many of the cases reviewed in this paper are likely to be the most
difficult for employers to resolve internally.

Unions and employer groups could
usefully develop targeted information for those industries and occupations
with a high incidence of reported harassment.

These findings reinforce the need
for HREOC to continue to undertake public education and research on
the issue of sexual harassment.What the data presented in this paper
do not show is who is being harassed but not reporting it to HREOC.
This will include harassment that is resolved between individuals and
within organisations, as well as harassment that is continuing unchecked
and unreported. In order to obtain this information, HREOC has commissioned
a telephone survey of the general incidence of sexual harassment in
Australia. This will provide a more complete picture on the harassment
that is occurring in the Australian workplaces, and the extent to which
this is reflected in complaints to HREOC.

Footnotes

75. Employment
status at time of reporting to HREOC could only be determined for 128
of the 152 complaints.

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Last
updated: 12 November 2003