March 2014 Newsletter 

In this edition:

Welcome

Preparing your business for the new anti-bullying laws

FBT - time to get ready for 2014

How to survive a tax audit

Support our team in the Weekend to End Women's Cancer walk

From 1 January 2014, the Fair Work Commission will have jurisdiction to deal with bullying complaints raised by workers. A worker who believes they are being bullied at work may lodge a bullying complaint against their employer with the Fair Work Commission.

The Commission then has discretion to deal with the complaint by mediation, conference or hearing and, depending on the particular circumstances of the case, may issue an order.

The commission has the powers to make an order for the bullying to stop, order the employer or individual to formally apologise and it will also open the door to allow the commission to regularly monitor the internal workplace bullying policies of your business. Contravention of an order may lead to a penalty of up to $10,200 for an individual or $51,000 for a business.

The legislation provides that the following behaviours may be considered bullying:

• aggressive and intimidating conduct;
• belittling or humiliating comments;
• victimisation;
• spreading malicious rumours;
• practical jokes or initiation;
• exclusion from work-related events;
• pressure to behave in an inappropriate manner; and
• unreasonable work expectations.

Reasonable management action taken in a reasonable way is not considered bullying.

The onus will be on businesses to be proactive about preventing workplace bullying and promptly dealing with any related complaints, in order to avoid any intervention by the Commission.

To prepare your business for these new anti-bullying laws, as a minimum your organisation should put in place a series of measures as to assist your organisation in strengthening its capacity to defend against any claims of bullying, these include:



• Ensuring your organisation has appropriate policies in place to deal with bullying and performance management;
• Training on these policies at least every 2 years;
• A procedural framework for handling grievances;
• Ensuring those responsible for dealing with grievances are aware of their responsibilities.
  
  

If you have any questions about how this may impact you or your business, please contact your Goodwin Chivas & Co. advisor.