Summary and Recommendation

Name

Course

Tutor

Date

Objective and Integrative Summary of the Three Texts

The three articles reviewed give analytical information on varied issues relating to work place discrimination and the subsequent legal implications to the companies involved. Summarily, the article Employers Fail Workplace Bullying ‘Targets’ outlines opinion of professionals with regards to management of work place bullying and the possible counterproductive outcomes if the process is not proactively handled. Most managers fail to understand such issues and normally embark on internally instigated investigations that normally make the situation worse. This is because the management would be normally preoccupied with designing ways and means to avoid the legal implications of the behaviour as opposed to solving the root cause of the problem. The main legal issues here are the infringement of employees’ privacy in the course of such investigations. The situation is compounded by the fact that the HRM department that normally handle such cases represents the interest of both the employer and employees. However, the existing legislations are deemed inadequate enough to offer the best solution to the problem.

The article, What is Discrimination and Harassment details the definition and concepts relating to discrimination and harassment in work place as espoused in both federal and state laws. Discrimination is described as a favouritism approach work place management, where the employees are given unequal and unfair treatment by the management. This may take place in different scenarios such as during employee recruitments, unfair terms of work and unequal sharing of opportunities. On the other hand, the employees may be subjected to illegal harassment when they are threatened or feel mistreated or subjected to embarrassing situations because of their origin, race, or other social groupings. Whether the behaviours occur once or repeatedly, they constitute an illegality and may derail work place performance. Employers should therefore put in place necessary mechanisms to identify possibility of existence of such behaviours as the victims normally do not report the cases or show some form of contempt openly. Legally, it is the duty of the employer to ensure that work place environment is safe and conducive for work. Such work places should be free of bullying, discrimination and harassments. The author also gives detailed analysis of the related laws such as Age Discrimination Act 2004, AHRC Act 1996, Disability discrimination Act 1992 and Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Those who suffer such kinds of anomalies need to complain in writing and submit the cases to relevant authorities.

The third article, Unlawful Work Place Discrimination, outlines the changes that have taken place in the Australian work place since 2009. These changes have come about with the enactment of Fair work Act 2009. The office of the fair work Ombudsman is thus charged with the responsibility of ensuring that all the reported cases of work discrimination are objectively investigated and the necessary legal actions taken against the offenders. The article also lists the various forms of discriminations that have been declared as illegal such as race , colour, sex/ sexual preference, age, religion, among others. The legally issue here is that all employers irrespective of the size of the organization or bias of employment, that is either contractual or permanent, must adhere to the laws and avoid taking any adverse action against an employee. As such, any employees who disregard such laws cam face several penalties for abdicating their legal responsibilities. Such fines as $33,000 and $6,600 may be paid in the case of a discriminatory offence against a corporation or an individual respectively. Apart from the Ombudsman’s office , an employee may get assistance from other organizations such as Territory Occupation Health Safety Authority.

Recommendation to Advise Management

Bullying is a very serous offence in relation to work place safety laws. As such , it is recommended that the company uses third parties to asses its policies and their applications with regards to work place safety. The organization should also encourage the culture of mutual respect and conflict resolution strategies that are in line with the laws.

Issues relating to discrimination and harassment require a proactive approach by the management. First the management need to be aware of the laws in place and the possible consequences of the same. The company should have in place a comprehensive policy that seeks to promote cohesive work atmosphere that devoid of illegal and unethical practices. The policy should outlaw discriminations, device ways to deal with errant employees, and allow for equal opportunity sharing and competitive recruitment and promotion. The company should also ensure that it avoids discriminative pay by observing the minimum wage limits under the FWA (Billing, 2009). This may call for collective barraging policies that are more representatives (AHA, 2009). The employees should be educated to understand their rights and report any act of discrimination or harassment. For example discursive practices which may promote a given gender should be outlawed (Olsson and Walker, 2004)). This calls for creation of a whistle blower intuitive and early waring systems that would help the management to get the relevant and sensitive information before such behaviours get too common and out of control.

Given that discriminatory laws have been modified under the FWA Act 2009, it is also critical that the employers work with the office of Ombudsman to get the latest information on work place complaints. This will act as away of gathering relevant and updated information apart from getting to learn the industry practices and challenges.

References

Australian Hotels Association (AHA) (2009). Collective Bargaining Framework.

Retrieved September 6, 2010 , from HYPERLINK “http://www.aha.org.au/Collecting%20Bargaining%20Framework.pdf” http://www.aha.org.au/Collecting%20Bargaining%20Framework.pdf.

Australian human Rights Commission (n.d). What is discrimination and harassment?

Retrieved September 6, 2010 , from HYPERLINK “http://www.hreoc.gov.au” www.hreoc.gov.au

Billing, S. (2009). Fair Work Bill 2008: Fairer for Who? Retrieved September 6,

2010 , from http://www.hrnicholls.com.au/archives/vol29/Billing2009.pdf.

Charlesworth, S. & Fiona Macdonald, F. (2007). Hard Labour? Pregnancy,

Discrimination and Workplace Rights, A Report to the Office of the Workplace Rights Advocate. Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University.

Firework Ombudsman (2009). Unlawful work place discrimination . Australian

Government. Retrieved September 6, 2010 , from HYPERLINK “http://www.fairwork.gov.au” www.fairwork.gov.au

Fair Work Online (2009). Enterprise Bargaining fact sheet. Retrieved September 6,

2010 , from HYPERLINK “http://www.fairwork.gov.au/Fact-sheets-tools/Pages/FWO-fact-sheet-Enterprise-Bargaining.aspx#terms” http://www.fairwork.gov.au/Fact-sheets-tools/Pages/FWO-fact-sheet-Enterprise-Bargaining.aspx#terms

Government of South Australia, 2007). Dealing With Workplace Bullying: A

Practical Guide for Employees. Retrieved September 6, 2010 , from

HYPERLINK “http://www.stopbullyingsa.com.au/documents/bullying_employees.pdf” http://www.stopbullyingsa.com.au/documents/bullying_employees.pdf.

Human Resource Management Group (2006). Harassment, Discrimination and

Workplace Bullying Policy. Retrieved September 6,

2010 , from http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/pdfs/about/HarassmentPolicy.pdf.

Olsson, S. & Walker, R. (2004). Two wo-men and the boys: patterns of

identification and differentiation in senior women executives’ representations of career identity. Women in Management Review, vol. 19, pp.244-251.

Southam, K. (n.d). Employers fail workplace bulling ‘targets’. Retrieved September 6,

2010 , from HYPERLINK “http://www.CareerOne.com.au” www.CareerOne.com.au Points to remember:

The summary will involve sifting out and synthesising the key points, issues, and information presented in the sources.

The summary should have its own structure as a coherent piece of formal writing, independent of the structure of the three articles.

The summary should be in your own words (i.e., using paraphrase rather than direct quotations), although of course it will be appropriate to use some of the same terminology as appears in the originals.

Your recommendation should be based on the information you present in the summary. It should be presented in the form of a letter or memo.

Assessment criteria:

We will look for

efficient objective summarising of the content of the articles

clear integration of the issues from the source texts into one coherent whole

suitable structure and tone of both your documents, showing that you understand their different purposes even though produced for the same audience

a clear logical relationship between the background paper (summary) and the recommendation;

ability to follow the conventions of standard written English.

Text 1: Found at HYPERLINK “http://www.hreoc.gov.au” www.hreoc.gov.au (website of Australian Human Rights Commission)

Text 2: Found at HYPERLINK “http://www.fairwork.gov.au” www.fairwork.gov.au (website of Australian Government Fairwork Ombudsman)

Text 3: Found at HYPERLINK “http://www.CareerOne.com.au” www.CareerOne.com.au (website of CareerOne)