IMS9.9.1 Respectful Workplace Behaviours Policy (Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination)

1.0   PURPOSE

SeaLink Travel Group is committed to providing a professional work environment, free from discrimination, victimisation and workplace harassment, including workplace bullying and sexual harassment.

The objectives of this Policy are to:

• create an environment that is free from discrimination, workplace harassment and victimisation and where all Employees are treated with dignity, courtesy and respect;
• ensure all Employees understand their rights and responsibilities relating to discrimination and harassment law;
• encourage reporting of behaviour that might breach this Policy;
• provide an effective procedure for the investigation of complaints, based on the principles of natural justice; and
• provide protection from victimisation or reprisals as a result of lodging a complaint.

Discrimination and harassment in employment is prohibited under both Federal and State legislation.

Each Employee is legally responsible for their own behaviour and actions.

2.0   SCOPE

This policy applies to all Employees and Contractors of SeaLink.

3.0   DEFINITIONS

Contractor an individual, company or other legal entity who carries out work or performs services for SeaLink.

Employee any permanent, casual or temporary person employed directly by the relevant employing company that is part of the SeaLink group of companies.

SeaLink SeaLink Travel Group Limited and/or its subsidiary companies depending on the context.

Manager any Employee with senior leadership responsibility.

Supervisor includes an Employee’s Team Leader and means any Employee with team leadership responsibility.

4.0   POLICY GUIDELINES

4.1   Discrimination

Discrimination in employment on the following grounds is unlawful:

• gender;
• marital status;
• sexuality;
• pregnancy;
• family responsibilities;
• physical or intellectual impairment;
• political or religious beliefs;
• age;
• race;
• trade union activity, and
• social origin.

SeaLink will take all reasonable steps to ensure equal opportunity principles are incorporated into, and discrimination is eliminated from, all employment matters, including:

• recruitment and selection;
• policies, practices and procedures;
• terms and conditions for work including wages and other benefits;
• training, promotion and transfer of Employees
• the methods and reasons for ending employment, and
• allocation of work and roles.

SeaLink will take all reasonable steps to ensure a workplace culture that does not tolerate discrimination or harassment.

4.2   Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is defined as behaviour that is directed towards an Employee or group of Employees, that is repeated, and that a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would expect to victimise, humiliate, undermine or threaten the Employee or Employees to whom the behaviour is directed; and that creates a risk to health or safety.

The following types of behaviour, where repeated or occurring as part of a pattern of behaviour, could be considered bullying:

• excluding or isolating an Employee or Employees from workplace activities;
• giving someone the majority of unpleasant or meaningless tasks;
• giving Employees impossible assignments (e.g. outside the skill and competence of the Employee);
• verbal abuse;
• humiliating someone through sarcasm or insults;
• intimidation or threatening behaviour;
• deliberately changing work hours to cause inconvenience to particular Employees;
• deliberately withholding information that is vital for effective work performance, and
• deliberate damage to personal property. 

This is not an exhaustive list; other types of behaviour may also constitute bullying if it creates a risk to health and safety. Conduct may constitute bullying even if it was not intended to humiliate, undermine, or threaten, etc.

Notwithstanding that behaviour might not be repeated or directed at a person or group, and therefore may not fit within the definition of workplace bullying, any unreasonable behaviour that creates a risk to the health or safety of others is unacceptable and will be treated seriously by SeaLink.

Bullying (and harassment) should not be confused with a Manager’s right to exercise authority in a reasonable manner. It is acceptable for a Manager/Supervisor to give legitimate direction, give performance reviews, counsel an Employee on their performance and deal with complaints and misconduct in accordance with the standard procedures of SeaLink. It is accepted that differences in opinion can and will occur and they should not constitute bullying in themselves.

4.3   Harassment

Harassment is any unwelcome or uninvited behaviour that causes or has the potential to cause offence, intimidation or humiliation and it is reasonable in the circumstances to feel that way.

Harassment can be physical, verbal or visual in nature. Harassment can take various forms and can include sexual harassment (harassment of a sexual nature) or racial harassment. Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to:

• uninvited physical contact;
• verbal remarks with sexual or racial connotations;
• any action or comment of a sexual nature;
• display of inappropriate objects or pictures, written emails or text messages;
• questions or insinuations about a person’s private life;
• sexually explicit jokes, banter or innuendo;
• persistent requests for social contact or sexual favours where these are unwelcome;
• viewing, downloading or printing pornography or sexually explicit material, and
• offensive communication including email messages, voice-mail, text messages, letters, telephone calls and/or facsimile.

Harassment may occur even if it is not intentional. It is the impact of the behaviour on the person concerned that is important, not the intention of the ‘harasser’.

Harassment can be the result of:

• a single incident;
• a series of incidents over a period of time; or
• the workplace environment.

Harassment (including sexual harassment) can occur during working hours or outside the normal workplace, for example, during training or at work social functions. The Employer aims to provide an environment where an Employee can work without feeling in any way threatened or concerned that they will be subjected to offensive, humiliating or intimidating behaviour of a sexual or racial nature.

4.4   Victimisation

Victimisation means treating someone unfairly because they have acted on their rights under equal opportunity or harassment law or because they have supported someone else who acted upon those rights. 

Current legislation prohibits the victimisation of individuals who:

• intend to make a complaint;
• make a complaint;
• intend to provide information as a witness;
• provide information as a witness, or
• support an individual who intends to make a complaint or who has made a complaint.

SeaLink will take all necessary steps to ensure that people involved in a complaint are not victimised by anyone for coming forward with the complaint or for helping to resolve it.

4.5   Behaviour Outside of Work

The prohibited behaviours described in this Policy are not limited to behaviour only occurring at the workplace. If the behaviour is sufficiently connected to employment, ‘outside of work behaviour, may still be subject to policies and legislative obligations, providing SeaLink with the ability to manage any such issues in those circumstances. The Employer and Employees must not engage in any of the prohibited behaviours described in Part 4 of this Policy.

5.0   REASONABLE ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION

Reasonable Administrative Action does not fall under discrimination or harassment. It is important to differentiate between bullying and discrimination and an employer’s legitimate authority to direct and control the way work is done. It is reasonable for employers to allocate work, and for Managers and Supervisors to give fair and reasonable feedback on an Employees performance.

Examples of Reasonable Administrative Action include but are not limited to:

• counseling Employees over questionable work performance;
• allocating an Employee reasonable and comparable levels of work;
• applying firm conditions that are in keeping with WHS standards;
• changing a roster in a reasonable way (regardless of whether it is ‘liked’);
• asking an Employee for a medical certificate for sick leave (complying with policy requirements); and
• excluding a team member from meetings that are not relevant to their job.

6.0   CONFIDENTIALITY

Other than as required by law or for the disciplinary process, all details of complaints of discrimination and harassment will remain confidential unless specific permission from the complainant is granted.

Any person who breaches confidentiality may be disciplined.

It is also important that the complainant keeps this matter confidential (this will avoid idle gossip and the possibility of defamation proceedings against the complainant or the Employer).

7.0   RECORD KEEPING

It is important that written records are kept of any complaints of discrimination or harassment and of any follow-up action, as these may be required as evidence should the allegations be taken to the Equal Opportunity Commission.

Management is responsible for accurate, concise and confidential record keeping in line with Company procedures for employment records.

8.0   RESOLUTION OF COMPLAINTS

8.1   Self-Help

Self-help is most often the first step in discrimination and harassment situations. It involves the Employee personally addressing the problem with the other person concerned, either alone or with the support of someone else.

It involves advising the person concerned either in person or in writing that their behaviour is offensive and request that it stop. The person may be unaware of the negative impact of their actions and advising them may prevent recurrence.

8.2   Informal Intervention

Informal intervention occurs when the Employee decides to have a neutral party intervene on his or her behalf, without a formal complaint being made.

The Employee may raise the matter with their Manager or Supervisor and discuss possible solutions.

An example of such a solution may be that the neutral party informally discusses the behaviour with the person concerned, the impact on the complainant and requests the behaviour stops.

8.3   Formal Complaint

If the matter is not resolved through informal processes, or it is a serious breach of policy, then the Employee can lodge a formal, written complaint with their Manager. A formal investigation will be conducted in accordance with the ‘Managing Performance and Behaviour Procedure’.

After consideration of all internal options, the complainant may choose to pursue the matter externally. External options include:

• Equal Opportunity Commission;
• external advice and/or representation, and
• various community help groups.

Even if a formal, written complaint is not made and the Employer becomes aware of an issue or a potential issue, the Employer has a duty to investigate appropriately. That is, the Employee may not need to lodge a written complaint or request an investigation for such matters to be investigated. 

9.0   RESPONSIBILITIES OF SEALINK TRAVEL GROUP

SeaLink is responsible for ensuring that this policy is documented, implemented, maintained and communicated to all Employees. This includes ensuring that the Policy is available for interested parties to access and is periodically reviewed.

SeaLink will ensure the Policy is regularly reviewed to ensure it complies with legal requirements and remains relevant to the workplace;

SeaLink will provide Employees with appropriate training, information, instruction, and resources to assist them in understanding and implementing this policy.

10.0   RESPONSIBILITIES OF MANAGERS / SUPERVISORS

Managers are responsible for monitoring and acting upon compliance with this Policy.

Managers and Supervisors are responsible for ensuring all Employees understand this Policy, and where an Employee has not completed the associated training within three (3) working days of commencement of employment with the Employer, direct the Employee to complete it within three (3) working days or other such reasonable period.

Managers and Supervisors must ensure that:

• all Employees know what acceptable conduct is by setting a personal example;
• they counsel Employees about behaviour that is discriminatory or harassing or that may develop into discrimination or harassment in accordance with the requirements of this Policy;
• they inform Employees of their right to raise a matter about behaviour in the workplace if they feel it is affecting them;
• they create Employees’ confidence in the Employer’s commitment to a work environment free of discrimination and harassment by ensuring action is taken quickly and fairly;
• once aware of an issue, they act in a quick, fair and confidential manner to investigate and resolve the issue;
• they take action to resolve a behavioural problem in the workplace as soon as becoming aware of the problem or potential problem, whether or not the Employees’ wishes to make a complaint;
• they monitor individual Employees’ behaviour that has changed in relation to lowered work performance, isolation from colleagues, unexplained absenteeism and excessive use of personal/carer’s leave;
• they take action to ensure that Employees are not victimised or treated unfairly for making a complaint;
• all Employees are aware of and understand the Policy and the consequences of not complying with the Policy;
• the Policy is enforced consistently within their team;
• all new Employees are made aware of the Policy during induction;
• any change to the Policy is communicated to Employees; and
• if required, action is taken to ensure no further breaches occur.

11.0   RESPONSIBILITIES OF EMPLOYEES

Employees must successfully complete the associated training as required by the Employer

All employees must:

• prevent discrimination or harassment by maintaining an appropriate standard of behaviour in the workplace and treating fellow Employees with courtesy and respect;
• clearly communicate their feelings to other Employees who they feel are harassing or acting in a discriminatory way towards them;
• raise harassment or discrimination issues with their Manager or Supervisor if unresolved through personal approaches;
• actively contribute to a positive and productive work environment and inclusive workplace culture;
• maintain awareness and an understanding of the Policy and the consequences of not complying with the Policy;
• seek advice from their Manager if they are unsure whether their actions could breach this Policy; and
• report suspected non-compliance of this Policy to their Manager.

12.0   NON-COMPLIANCE WITH POLICY

Non-compliance with this policy may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.