Shocking new research reveals three in five employers do not take sexual harassment and discrimination complaints seriously.
Employment rights legal centre JobWatch joined RMIT University and the University of Wollongong to investigate the barriers in the legal system regarding workplace sexual harassment and discrimination.
In their report, released on Wednesday, a staggering 95 per cent of respondents experienced discrimination either multiple times or by multiple perpetrators.
Almost three in four respondents said they experienced multiplied adverse outcomes as a result, including loss of job opportunities, financial reward and workplace bullying, among others.
Just three per cent said taking action against their experience of sexual harassment and discrimination resulted in a positive outcome.
When surveying employers, results showed the majority of employers (three in five) are not taking internal complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination seriously and do not effectively protect employees in the workplace.
Zana Bytheway, the executive director of JobWatch and co-author of the report, said she was most concerned about the emotional impact these experiences have had on the people who participated in the survey.
“Many people talked about the stress, anxiety, poor mental health and in one case – even hospitalisation that resulted from their experiences of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination,” Bytheway said.
JobWatch predict a 15 per cent increase of calls relating to workplace sexual harassment to the not-for-profit’s Telephone Information Service, providing free, tailored legal information on workplace issues. Bytheway predicts there will also be a 9 per cent increase in calls relating to discrimination.
“This represents a potentially significant increased burden on the state’s mental health system if we don’t act now to address this workplace issue,” she said.
‘Eventually, even the toughest break.’
Dr Rachel Loney-Howes from the University of Wollongong is a co-author of JobWatch’s report, titled Overwhelmed and Frustrated: Experiences of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination; the barriers faced with the legal system.
“Our analysis of the survey data confirmed that power imbalances underscore the perpetration of workplace sexual harassment, that many, if not most, victim/survivors face challenges in seeking to report workplace sexual harassment, and the overall lack of meaningful outcomes for victim/survivors of workplace sexual harassment,” Dr Loney-Howes said.
“What this really demonstrates is the need to further investigate workplace safety and culture, especially where such cultures enable problematic attitudes and behaviours towards gender, sexuality, ability and ethnicity.”
JobWatch list ten recommendations to improve workplace cultures, including funding duty lawyers for conciliations and mediations through both anti-discrimination and industrial relations claims, increding funding to community legal centres, and more.
The changes would reduce the number of sexual harassment and discrimination cases, experienced by people like Jenny M, who participated in JobWatch’s research.
“When you’re in that situation, it’s like being in an abusive relationship. The workplace culture grooms you into thinking that it’s normal, and you can get stuck into thinking that you just need to be resilient and to stick it out,” Jenny said.
“I’m a tough cookie but eventually, even the toughest break. By the time I left this workplace, I was broken. I felt unsupported and did not know where to go – and I had no energy left to fight after 13 years of workplace sexual harassment. I wish I had stood up to expose the culture at my former workplace.
“I’m really glad that my contribution in the research might help to create change for more people – no one should have to go through what I went through.”