...FACTS: Your employer tells you that he’s heard that a supervisor from the purchasing department made a pass at two employees at the company picnic. 1. What should the employer do? 2. Why? RELEVANT ISSUE: Ontario‘s Human rights code prohibits workplace and sexual harassment in employment. The employer has a duty to provide a working environment that is free from harassment and discrimination, and must also deal effectively and efficiently with any allegation of harassment of which it is, or should be, aware. 1. Regarding this case following points should be taken into account by the employer (Filsinger, 2010): - The employer should take harassment allegations seriously and of investigating such complaints promptly, thoroughly, and in a way that is fair to both parties involved. - He should ensure that the investigator is unbiased. - The employer should interview third-party witnesses about the behaviour of the supervisor in general. - If there were witnesses, they should also be interviewed and asked non-leading questions. - The employer has an obligation to monitor, and respond to harassment that could poison the atmosphere of workplace. - The employer should foster an inclusive workplace and trains its managers to recognize and respond promptly to harassment to avoid liability for harassment by non-managerial employees under the code. 2. Following are the reasons why the employer should react to the complaint even if the complainants did not express their...
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...The first issue is to look at whether June is considered an employee of Westwood or an independent contractor. This can be determined using the five common law tests. Firstly, using control test in Yewens v Noakes (1880), it was held that ‘a servant is a person subject to the command of his master as to the manner in which he shall do his work’. Secondly, the integration/organisation test is an alternative test to determine if an employee is “part and parcel of the organization”. In Stevens v Brodribb Sawmilling Co Pty Ltd (1986) 63 ALR 513, courts held that the timber worker, Gray was not an employee of Brodribb but rather independent contractor due to the control test, as the degree of control was minimal. Thirdly, the business/economic reality test checks if the worker has engaged him or herself to perform the services, performing them as a person in business on his or her own account. In Market Investigations Ltd v Minister of Social Security (1969) 2 WLR 1, the court found that the extent of control exercised by the company was so extensive as to be consistent with the interviewer being engaged under a contract of service. The fourth test is the ready mixed concrete test which is a different approach to identify employment. However, this test has not generally been accepted because of the third consistency which states “the other provisions of the contract are consistent with its being a contract of service” provides no insight. Lastly the multi-factor test, in the case...
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...There are laws that also assist both the organization and the employee so that both are protected against each other during a time of conflict. According to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2009) laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes discrimination illegal in regards to race, sex, color, and religion. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) makes it illegal to pay men an women differently based on the fact that they are a man or women and the OSH Act which according to U.S. Department of Labor (2015) forces employers to maintain a safe work environment by assisting with development and training of policies. Each of these laws are made as a checks and balance mechanism when it comes to the organization and employees...
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...Identification the legal issue/s After examining the facts and circumstances of the case, June did not breach the contractual terms and she is allowed to claim legislative protections in relation to Malcolm’s conduct. June answered to an advertisement written by Westwood University Library. She went for an interview where she met Malcolm, her immediate supervisor and get to know the company’s policy, rules and regulations. At this case, June is not considered as a staff of Westwood University because she did not sign a contract, including the social networking policy that was implemented a month before she entered the company. Relevant Legal Principles There is a distinct difference between and offer and an invitation to treat. Accepting an invitation does not come into legal bindings. An invitation to treat is a mere declaration of willingness to enter into negotiation. Advertisement usually forms no part of the employment contract and the discussion in interviews will not automatically become part of the contract. For a contract to be form, an offer must be made and stated as it was an offer, not through mode of job advertisement. Element of a contract includes offer and acceptance, intention to create legal relations, certainty, consideration, capacity and legality. It is stated in both State Legislation (Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA)) and federal legislations (e.g. Race Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth.)) prohibit discrimination in relation to employment. Various...
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...employer have great control their servant/employees in their work performance. Control becomes an important key to determine if a person is an employee as of today or to show if there is an employment relationship. There are differences between employees and independent contractors, an independent contractor is a person who agrees to deliver a certain outcome whereas an employee, who must obey instructions from his or her employer in the discharge of his duties, so independent contractor act independently from the principal that hires him.The independent contractor can delegate others to complete the job as the principal is not concerned with how the contractor does it, so long the outcome is achieved. Using control test from the common law, we can determine that Amanda is an employee of the company as the company control her working hours. We are concerned with the nature of the control and the degree of the control – Federal Commissioner of Taxation V J Walter Thompson (Aust) Pty Ltd (1994) Case. In Walter Thompson case, the company hired artists to perform radio plays for advertisements. The High court of Australia found that the producer controlled the actors during rehearsals and performance and held that there is an employment relationship here. Thus , we can use this case to prove that Amanda is an employee of the company. We can use the multi factor test to determine whether Amanda is the employee of the company. The multi factor test is the primary test used in Australia...
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...A White Paper from the Society for Human Resource Management BULLIES IN THE WORKPLACE: A FOCUS ON THE “ABUSIVE DISRESPECT” OF EMPLOYEES By Teresa A. Daniel “Bullying is the sexual harassment of 20 years ago; everybody knows about it, but nobody wants to admit it”. —Lewis Maltby (Russell, 2001) The purpose of this paper is to review the current research and literature about workplace bullying, to provide information about how organizations can learn to more quickly identify bullies and to suggest ways of dealing with these toxic people so that the corporate culture is not negatively impacted by their behavior. Overview To be successful, organizations must create an atmosphere that inspires both innovation and risk-taking. In an increasingly competitive global economy, such innovation is more important than ever before (Hamel, 2000). However, not only does workplace bullying stifle productivity and innovative practices, but bullies often target the organization’s most talented employees—those individuals who are generally the most threatening to bullies (McCord & Richardson, 2001). As a result, the creativity and productivity of the organization’s most talented human capital is often negatively affected by this type of behavior at work or, worse yet, good employees are driven out of the company altogether. Bullies are often hard to identify because they operate “under cover”—that is, on the surface they appear to be civil and cooperative, while they do ...
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...Managing Workplace Conflicts The author of this article, Annemarie Franczyk, believes that the expectation to do more with less these days could be fostering a breeding ground of workplace conflict. Managers need to be increasingly aware of clashes between workers before the problems disrupt workflow and productivity. (Franczyk, A., 2010) Annemarie and her panel made suggestions for how to best mitigate the risks associated with workplace conflict. I chose to review this article about workplace conflicts, because I am currently in management at my job and I believe this article will help me get involved more with fellow co-workers and also help me see the things that are going on within the store that are not verbally communicated to me. This article will also help me address issues and help develop solutions to issues. The main point that is made in this article is that people lose sight of the organization’s goals while fighting for their personal goals. And there are four strategies for mitigating the damaging effects of workplace conflicts which are: (1) Recognize it and step in, (2) Meet without emotion, (3) Real solutions, and (4) Use the EAP (Employee-Assistance Program). (Franczyk, A., 2010) 1. Recognize it and step in: Managers shouldn’t avoid situations and wait for employees to do something drastic, like resigning, they should set in and help to resolve issues for them instead of letting them try to solve them for themselves. They...
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...Bullying In the Workplace • Some examples of bullying • Examples of some actions that can be taken • Types of Bullying • The Impact of Workplace Bullying • Solutions to Workplace Bullying • Conclusion Introduction: Bullying is be defined as the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person. The most common bullying type is school bullying, where some students use force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively impose domination over others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power. Behaviors used to assert such domination can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault or coercion, and such acts may be directed repeatedly towards particular targets. Justifications and rationalizations for such behavior sometimes include differences of class, race, religion, gender, sexuality, appearance, behavior, strength, size or ability. If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing. "Targets" of bullying are also sometimes referred to as "victims" of bullying. [pic] Bullying In The Workplace In the United States, more than a third of the workforce have been tormented on the job, according to a 2010 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute...
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...Results from a 2014 Workplace Bullying Survey indicated that 3-4 out of every 10 employees have experienced bullying on the job. Bullying, according to employment law, has a number of definitions including: psychological violence, repetitive and intentional intimidation or humiliation of an individual, aggressive manipulation, sabotage of an employee’s work on the job, etc. No matter what type of bullying is evident in the workplace, it will poison company morale and damage productivity. Not to mention the fact that it will, in almost every instance, destroy any positive culture at the organization. Examples of Workplace Bullying: 2012: An employer was held liable by a California appeals court when one employee harassed another employee (who had a disability) during off duty hours on a blog. Even though the bullying occurred outside of office hours at a different location, the employer was held liable because they knew the...
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...Workplace bullying and union involvement Introduction Bullying is all around us. We’ve seen it on the school playgrounds as children all the way through to the companies which we are employed. I’m sure at some point in our lives we ourselves have fallen victim to bullying or have even the person doing the bullying. Unfortunately, bullying is an increasing problem within the organization. To date, there are approximately 54 million people out there who have been victims to workplace bullying; of which, 45 percent suffer from various health problems due to stress and 40 percent were either fired because their work productivity diminished or they eventually quit because they couldn’t handle it anymore (Bennett-Alexander, 2012). Since bullying is such a common offense, it is often difficult to detect. This briefing will provide information about the problem, guidance on how to tackle it before it gets out of control, and what to include in an effective prevention policy and how to put it into action. What is bullying? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) classified workplace bullying not only as a form of harassment; they also gave bullying its own category under their definition of workplace violence (“Workplace violence”, n.d.). If not dealt with immediately, the bullying has the potential to lead into something more severe or fatal. Bullying is not just an employment problem; it’s an issue of power and feeling dominant. It can also raise...
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...Workplace Stress Stress is a factor in everyone’s life mainly during difficult times such as divorce, marriage, and even when buying a house, but the most stress seems to be related to the workplace. Employees deal with firings, change in financial status, and problems with the boss, altered responsibilities, variations in work hours, business readjustments, retirement and vacations. Stress interferes with your productivity and can reduce your physical and emotional health and affects everyone differently. Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. The body’s defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress response. The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When it is working properly, it helps you stay focused, alert, and energetic. In certain emergency situations, stress can save your life. It goes extra strength to defend you. Stress response also helps you meet challenges. Managers should be educated and aware of the many symptoms of stress because if they go unnoticed and unattended they can lead to bigger problems. People feel overwhelmed and several signs and symptoms can occur such as: • Feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed • Apathy, loss of interest in work. • Problems sleeping • Fatigue, • Trouble concentrating • Muscle tension or headaches • Stomach problems • Social withdrawal • Loss of...
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...In colloquial speech, bullying is most often used to describe a form of harassment associated with being performed by a child who is older, stronger, or otherwise more powerful socially, upon weaker peers. Bullying can occur in situations including in school or college/university, the workplace, by neighbours, and between countries. Whatever the situation the power structure is typically evident between the bully and victim. It seems to those outside the relationship that the bully's power depends only upon the perception of the victim, with the victim being too intimidated to put up effective resistance. However the victim usually has just cause to be afraid of the bully due to the threat and actually carrying out of physical/sexual violence, or loss of livelihood. Bullying is behind most claims of discrimination in the workplace. Types of bullying Bullying is when someone repeatedly acts or says things to have power over another person. Bullies mainly use a combination of intimidation and humiliation to torment others. The following is some examples of bullying techniques: * Calling the victim names and stating the victim is useless at whatever they do * Spreading gossip and rumours about him/her * Threats of job loss and disciplinary action for unspecified reasons * Constant negative criticism for unspecified allegations * Taking the victim's possessions or taking control of the victim's work * Demoting the victim * Making the victim do what they do not want...
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...Workplace Bullying This article starts out describing a case where employees were given a new supervisor who turned the workplace into a “living hell”. The new boss did not curse at workers but would regularly scold them, send out harsh emails, and yell at them. This created such a hostile work environment that cases like these were brought to the attention of the state, who took action. On January 1st, a state law will be taking effect requiring employers in California with 50 or more workers to include lessons on anti-workplace bullying. This will apply when they carry out state-mandated sexual harassment training for supervisors. Workplace Bullying Post Many of us have experienced being bullied at one point in our lives and it’s a serious issue that can cause health problems such as anxiety and depression. This problem is not just in schools, it’s even happening in the workplace. Workplace bullying can come from anyone, your peers or your boss. The article states that the boss would often call out workers with phrases like “I told you,” or “I gave you a direct order.” This shows that the boss views his employees from a Theory X perspective, needing to constantly monitor and pressure their performance to get work done. He may also identify them as having a type B personality, relaxed and not caring about their work. The goal of human relations is to create a win-win situation for both the employer and employee by satisfying...
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...brought a broad contextual paradigm, which reflects a greater willingness by the courts to view the evidence offered in support of hostile work environments, without disaggregating evidence into artificially-constructed categories of sexual and non-sexual conduct. A broader contextual approach has brought an arising exclusive approach to hostile work environment, and as result of exposing an individual to severe or pervasive conduct of a sexual nature. This gives the courts an opportunity to acknowledge the ways in which discrimination because of sex is experienced by individuals in their workplaces. The major challenge is define and educate workplaces and employees on the basis of sexual and hostile work environments. Opinion I believe that hostile work environments have became a growing situation in today’s workforce. Especially with the growing of diversity in the workplace with more women obtaining jobs that were once...
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...attention to Cupid’s arrows amid the flow charts and balance sheets, they could be in for unexpected surprises. Disastrous love affairs may damage morale and productivity. Some workplace romances can lead to sexual harassment cases, which can carry serious legal – and financial - consequences. Yet few small companies have formal policies on workplace dating and even fewer ban such romances. In large part, that’s because firms believe it’s none of their business if co-workers pair up. It’s understandable why office love connections flourish: People spend much of their lives at work and end up sharing hobbies, personality quirks and intimacies. Dating co-workers seem safer, especially for many women, because they get time to know each other. Moreover, many employees share similar education, interests, attitudes, values, and income levels. And often work projects offer intellectual stimulation and emotional bonding. Far from being harmful, many romances actually improve work performances. They add a dynamism and energy that translates into enhanced morale, communication, creativity and even productivity. Should these relationships evolve into long-term commitments, as often happens, companies will generally benefit from happier and more fulfilled employees. So it appears the key issue isn’t thwarting workplace romances so much as managing them. That has special relevance for small firms, where love affairs can be especially dicey. Many workers there have overlapping responsibilities...
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