17 May
by Sally Spalding
WORKSAFE Victoria has been investigating bullying claims against an officer at the City of Greater Dandenong.
One matter, listed at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on April 27, reached an out-of-court settlement before the case could be heard.
Barrister Steven Carson said the settlement was the third out-of-court agreement reached on confidential terms regarding the same council officer.
Lawyers acting for the Greater Dandenong Council reached an agreement on April 27, after employees first lodged bullying claims in 2007.
WorkSafe inspectors had visited the council’s Springvale offices and issued improvement notices after bullying claims were lodged on April 14, 2009; November 20, 2008 and February 24 last year.
On these occasions, Leader has seen WorkSafe reports that state the “employer had failed as far as is reasonably practicable to provide and maintain for employees of the employer a working environment that is safe and without risks”.
The reports also said the City of Greater Dandenong was in contravention of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
On each occasion, the WorkSafe officer gave a four-week period for the workplace situation to improve before revisiting the site.
The Improvement Notices were issued to Greater Dandenong Council chief executive officer John Bennie.
The settlements so far are believed to make up three of 14 cases of bullying in the workplace at the council.
Mr Bennie said the council took its responsibilities to all staff with regard to bullying and harassment in the workplace very seriously.
Council has a suite of organisational policies that address these matters and these are regarded by WorkSafe as a reflection of best practice,” Mr Bennie said.
No comments:
Post a Comment