Window and door manufacturer Elite Windows (Vic) Pty Ltd has been fined $10,000 with no conviction after their failure to protect a vulnerable employee who was subjected to persistent workplace bullying by another employee for nine months.
From July 2022 to March 2023 the victim, an apprentice joiner with Asperger’s syndrome (autism spectrum disorder), dyslexia and ADHD, was bullied by the aggressor, a qualified joiner. The inappropriate workplace behaviour and bullying included:
- Name-calling;
- Recording when the victim went to the bathroom;
- Threatening the victim and inciting him to fight; and
- Interfering with the victim at his workbench by deliberately bumping him.
Elite Windows failed to reduce the risk to the mental and/or physical health and safety of employees posed by bullying and failed to provide and maintain a safe system of work. The company had no policy or process in place for identifying, reporting, responding to and eliminating or reducing inappropriate workplace behaviour or bullying, or setting a standard of behaviour expected of employees within the workplace. Employees were not informed of how and to whom they could report inappropriate workplace behaviour and bullying, nor were the roles of managers and supervisors defined in how to respond to reports of inappropriate workplace behaviour and bullying.
You can learn more about workplace bullying on our Bullying and Violence pages, including links to external resources and an HSR Action Plan to address this issue with your employer. Employers can seek advice and guidance from WorkSafe’s Workplace Bullying Guide for Employers.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria