Sexual harassment – handling complaints with care    

This article will focus on the suggested approaches presented in the seminar when a complaint is made to you from a staff member. This could be about a fellow colleague, a contracting or employed doctor in your practice, patients or any other third-party contractor that enters your practice premises. 

Let’s start with a brief overview of sexual harassment in the workplace and what this looks like. Sexual harassment is:

• an unwelcome sexual advance or request for sexual favours to the person who is harassed and/or
• other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in relation to the person who is harassed. 

To be sexual harassment, it must be reasonable to expect that the person being harassed would be offended, humiliated or intimidated by the behaviour. An important thing to remember is sexual harassment doesn’t have to be repeated or continuous. It can in fact be a one-off incident. As part of an employer’s responsibility in preventing sexual harassment in the workplace, there is a requirement that each incident is investigated, and a change is made to reduce the risk of it happening again. 

A person could also experience sexual harassment by being exposed to or witnessing this behaviour in their work environment or culture. For example, overhearing an inappropriate conversation or comment. This is where our bystanders to sexual harassment in the workplace piece comes into play. 

Sexual harassment can come in many forms, from subtle micro behaviour to more obvious target type behaviour. Some examples include:

Subtle micro-behaviour:

• snickering 
• inappropriate banter
• staring or leering
• an unwanted invitation to go out on dates
• receiving sexually explicit photos or emails without permission

Target type behaviour:

• inappropriate physical contact, such as unwelcome touching
• suggestive comments or jokes
• intrusive questioning about a person’s private life or their body
• unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against a person or placing an unwanted hand on someone’s shoulder or arm. 
• an insult or a taunt of a sexual nature 

When a staff member comes to their manager about an incident that has occurred or a situation that has made them feel uncomfortable, it is important this is taken seriously and treated with confidentiality. As sexual harassment is listed as one of the fifteen identifiable psychosocial hazards in the workplace, it means that a person conducting a business or undertaking must take reasonable steps to eliminate the risk or hazard and investigate the situation in the first instance or sign of its presence. 

Below are some tips highlighted in the seminar that we feel will be beneficial for our members and practice managers. 

Create a safe space for staff to raise a complaint
In many cases, an individual experiencing this type of harassment may feel embarrassed or ashamed and may not want to report an incident out of fear of retribution or not being believed. Complaints of this nature should be taken seriously in all instances. 

One way practices can create an environment where staff feel safe to raise a complaint of this nature is by having appropriate policies and procedures in place outlining who they can talk to and the process that follows. During employee inductions, these policies and procedures should be distributed and read by all staff. Having clear education on sexual harassment in the workplace, what this may look like and how it differs from bullying will be key to creating a safe environment for your employees and contracting practitioners. 

Keep it confidential
Individuals raising complaints should be reassured all discussions relating to the matter will remain confidential. By breaching confidentiality, it may lead to additional psychological stress or harm. It could also open up the channels to continued unwanted harassment from the individual they are making the complaint about. 

Allowing the right of reply
When a complaint is received about another individual in your practice around sexual harassment it is important to have a discussion with the individuals involved to gain a better understanding of the situation. Allowing an opportunity to respond is not only necessary to hear both sides of the story, but can also be a legal requirement should the situation escalate any further. 

The key takeaway from this seminar for practice owners and managers is to make sure there are appropriate measures in place within your practice or clinic to ensure complaints of this nature are handled with care.  

	Workplace Relations Support  Workplace Relations Support offers general advice to members on what their responsibilities are as employers in relations to psychosocial hazards in the workplace and what the appropriate steps are to mitigate those hazards. You can contact us via phone (07) 3872 2222 and email support workplacerelations@amaq.com.au.
	Workplace Relations Toolkit Workplace Relations Toolkit subscribers receive policy and procedure templates as part of their subscription that outline sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace.
	Workplace Relations Consultancy Workplace Relations Consultancy can assist members with comprehensive guidance and advice on how to handle a situation of this nature that may have occurred within your practice. This may include talking points for meetings and appropriate disciplinary actions.