VIC Bullying and harrassement

[Briancrainfan]

Have a look at this page and it shows a table with remedies available:

workplace-bullying

From 1 January 2014, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has jurisdiction to hear complaints from workers covered by the Fair Work Act 2009 (FWA) who allege they are victims of workplace bullying. Background The reforms related to bullying introduced by the Fair Work Amendment Act

www.aph.gov.au

I am not a lawyer however having been down this path my findings was, aside from anti-discrimination, the only option offering $$ remedies is workers compensation and this is for loss of wages whilst you are recovering from the injury.

May differ from State of State but to sue for damages your personal injuries would have to be at a certain percentage. I have read over 15% impairment and someone said to me "you really don't want to be this high as it is not worth it". Plus you have to be in the workers' compensation system before you have this avenue available is my understanding

You can report to Worksafe and they will investigate?

There may be options to report to the public sector commission for your State to investigate and then ombudsman but this doesn't provide remedies for you. So the question would it be worth the energy?

I hope you find some peace in your journey.

It is a horrid place to be, to have gone through the bullying and harassment and have noone look after your safety, when you are legally entitled to a safe work environment.

If you have, I hope any hypervigilence you may have experienced has gone and the anxiety has stopped. Anxiety s definitely the worse. The reason for out of character experience is to do with the front lobe and anxiety. It is a good thing to research to understand why you may be behaving a certain way and also for your family to understand. Especially if you experienced getting angry very very quickly.

Maybe someone else may respond and provide more options for you however this has been my findings to date.

Take care of yourself...

Peace is there but the fact that I feel I lack skills to contribute to society and I saw how too much hard work does to people and where they become crippled or handicapped. I want more my innocence back more than anything so I could learn more about psychology, music theory and I saw other staff members being put through the same type of hardships where they have less of a heart from once they started. Its quite inhumane IMO and goes against human rights to experience feel good emotions and not be traumatised by the blasting by customers and by management as well. I am not able to enjoy shows like Frasier, Seinfeld and the shows I used to grow up with and I feel like a pensioner or an old person in an aged care home when watching them. It's not laziness it's just a lack of skill and confidence that I have because I don't know myself and what I want to be good. I was also trying to seek friendship in that Department but basically, most of the public servant became numb like this in the simpsons.

No wonder so many people end up in psychiatric hospitals, prisons and either commit suicide because of the system. I saw people who deliberately destroyed their hearing as a result of the system it's just wrong IMO or lose their passion for learning and just be on the lower level and the people who are obsessed with power and greed end up loving putting other people down. I was fed this fantasy about going to the space agency but, it was just a lie and management and everyone got bored of me and people got jealous and I did not accept any of the promotion given to by management because my heart just was not in it anymore. This is the thing, people wonder why sportsmen and famous people end up with depression. I had severe anxiety attacks, various parts in that Department I could feel the anxiety levels

 

[WiserNow]

If you are really unwell and unable to work you may have salary continuance or income protection under your superannuation. Probably not something that you want to claim but may be something if you need time to recover. If you have employee assistance program where you can get free visits to psychologists take advantage of these. It helps get some prospective and realise it is not you.

I am not sure if I have said in in this post but public sector is very high in bullying and harassment. It is very hard to get people to change their poor behaviour so, in my opinion, management turn a blind eye and do very little about it. It is easier to get rid of the victim by 'encouraging' them to claim worker's comp or they leave for another job.

Getting innocence back would be good but then I think back and I feel how terribly naive I was! A benefit that has come is I feel I am better at reading people more as opposed to viewing the world and people's behaviour on my belief system.

My psychologist said you need to think about your work and work out what 'You want to get out of the job' and that is it.

 

[Briancrainfan]

If you are really unwell and unable to work you may have salary continuance or income protection under your superannuation. Probably not something that you want to claim but may be something if you need time to recover. If you have employee assistance program where you can get free visits to psychologists take advantage of these. It helps get some prospective and realise it is not you.

I am not sure if I have said in in this post but public sector is very high in bullying and harassment. It is very hard to get people to change their poor behaviour so, in my opinion, management turn a blind eye and do very little about it. It is easier to get rid of the victim by 'encouraging' them to claim worker's comp or they leave for another job.

Getting innocence back would be good but then I think back and I feel how terribly naive I was! A benefit that has come is I feel I am better at reading people more as opposed to viewing the world and people's behaviour on my belief system.

My psychologist said you need to think about your work and work out what 'You want to get out of the job' and that is it.

I am not feeling well and I have resigned and that's from a permanent full time role and I feel I was being persuaded by them to have a low opinion about myself.

That's the thing though I do not believe in myself that much anymore. I feel I was being persuaded by one word answers to either stay and suffer and die and then live long enough to either Die or become old and depressed.
When I was sitting at my desk I could feel and sense jealousy vibes on my back from the people who have gone through a lot it was one of the weirdest thing.

I want my confidence back - I feel like staff and management used similar tactics on other people as well. I would just like to earn $150,000 and help people on the phone in a less high stress environment or working condition so I do not take the baggage home but use that money to improve myself.
The amount of emotional baggage that a lot of public servants were carrying is ridiculous and no wonder so many of them report domestic violence issues and sadly I carried that baggage home as well. Personally, for me I could benefit of getting my innocence back and I feel I was turning out to be one of them as well. I was treated like a puppet by them. On the last day they offered me an APS 5 position and my boss took all of my perfect stats with him and he had the last laugh and that's despite spending a lot of effort and hardwork helping people.

 

[WiserNow]

What you have experienced within the public sector I know a lot of people who feel like this.

Find a workplace that aligns to your personal values. A social worker colleague of mine could never work for a mining company as her values didn't align to what the company did. In her words "blowing up the environment".

Find a way to move on. Read Tony Robbin's books "the giant within". There is a free PDF copy online that Tony himself has released. Maybe salary continuance insurance will help. This is for injuries where you are unable to work. Don't delay as there will be a waiting period.

Take care of yourself. There is not much more that I can add so will close the threat here for me.

 

[Briancrainfan]

What you have experienced within the public sector I know a lot of people who feel like this.

Find a workplace that aligns to your personal values. A social worker colleague of mine could never work for a mining company as her values didn't align to what the company did. In her words "blowing up the environment".

Find a way to move on. Read Tony Robbin's books "the giant within". There is a free PDF copy online that Tony himself has released. Maybe salary continuance insurance will help. This is for injuries where you are unable to work. Don't delay as there will be a waiting period.

Take care of yourself. There is not much more that I can add so will close the threat here for me.

My lawyer says that I will likely lose the case because of very little evidence for my case to win.

 

[Briancrainfan]

The precedent you have linked and the remedies paid was done under workers compensation and TPD insurance. Not discrimination. It is different. You have to show, for HRC, bullying was linked to disability.

Under workers comp you have to show work was a major factor in causing the injury. Ie nothing else shows up on your medical history.

The respondents have today confirmed that the statement of service (with full release) is the best offer they are making and they will not be offering anything else. They have said that if you still wish to go to conciliation, they can talk to you about their written response and they would be reiterating the above offer. They asked me to let you know that if it is unable to be resolved, and if it went to court, they would intend to defend their position and would seek that you pay their legal costs.

 

[sammy01]

Change departments. I reckon almost all govt deparments are breeding grounds for this sort of madness. I'm a teacher. After 20 years in the job I had a new principal arrive. From the outset she was on a mission to divide an conquer. I spoke out and was on an improvement program in no time. With nothing substatiated I was having to justify everything. No matter what I did it was wrong. A friend who happens to be a solicitor advised me to just move on. Get work elsewhere.

He told me I could spend thousands in court. I will lose sleep, none of them will I will be paying legal fees, the department of education had a huge slush fund to rely upon to fund their legal case.

What really shits me is that most govt departments will have the best policies and practices written down to prevent workplace harassment. But they just don't follow them.

Mate - I got a job down the road at a different school. Happier than ever. I reckon in centerlink you must be able to do similar. Go work for Child support? or Veterans affairs? Just get out and live because they will wear you down...

 

[WiserNow]

It is such a very common method to use for bullying to criticise/discredit someone's work.

The policies are all just smoke and mirrors.

 

[Briancrainfan]

Change departments. I reckon almost all govt deparments are breeding grounds for this sort of madness. I'm a teacher. After 20 years in the job I had a new principal arrive. From the outset she was on a mission to divide an conquer. I spoke out and was on an improvement program in no time. With nothing substatiated I was having to justify everything. No matter what I did it was wrong. A friend who happens to be a solicitor advised me to just move on. Get work elsewhere.

He told me I could spend thousands in court. I will lose sleep, none of them will I will be paying legal fees, the department of education had a huge slush fund to rely upon to fund their legal case.

What really shits me is that most govt departments will have the best policies and practices written down to prevent workplace harassment. But they just don't follow them.

Mate - I got a job down the road at a different school. Happier than ever. I reckon in centerlink you must be able to do similar. Go work for Child support? or Veterans affairs? Just get out and live because they will wear you down...

child support no thanks I have heard such bad things about those calls.
I have resigned and the funny thing was I was offered an APS 5 role by them but I refused. Not only that I had moments of learned helpleness when I was sitting at my desk. I felt like a dog being shocked at my desk. Its such a inhumane way of treating workers like this and there is a lot of nepotism in that Department too. I have taken up a course in cybersecurity but doing the assignment feels like a struggle mainly because my mental health has been destroyed by the staff members because of the trauma I sustained.

 

[Briancrainfan]

It is such a very common method to use for bullying to criticise/discredit someone's work.

The policies are all just smoke and mirrors.

I never knew that I was working in a crazy environment. That Corporate environment did things to my head and my perception was thrown out of whack. I saw what happened to people, all I wanted was to do my work and then go home that's it.