Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:55:25.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The under-reporting of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces: are organisational processes falling short?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2020

Therese MacDermott Open the ORCID record for Therese MacDermott [Opens in a new window]
Therese MacDermott*
Affiliation:
Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
*
*Author email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sexual harassment is persistent, prevalent and under-reported in Australian workplaces despite its legal regulation over many decades. The most recent survey data in Australia indicate that the majority of individuals who are subject to sexual harassment at work do not make a formal report or lodge a complaint. The opportunity for voice that organisational processes provide to those who experience sexual harassment at work is a particular focus, given the under-reporting problem. The paper also considers the impact of organisational processes on those who observe the inappropriate behaviour and/or the organisational response. Ultimately, this paper argues that organisations should reduce their reliance on individual complaints by expanding the pathways by which concerns can be raised or observed behaviours addressed that offer alternative voice mechanisms, with an emphasis on problem-solving and early intervention where this is appropriate. The paper also considers different communications strategies, such as approaches to training, the sharing of information about workplace incidents, and leadership on the issue within organisations.

Keywords

workplace sexual harassmentcomplaintsorganisational processes
Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 531 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Legal Scholars

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

This research was funded by the Australian Research Council's Discovery Project funding scheme (DP1701009600: ‘A Relational Theory of Procedural Justice’).

References

1 For the most recent survey see Australian Human Rights Commission Everyone's Business: Fourth National Survey on Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2018). Prior surveys were conducted by the AHRC in 2003, 2008 and 2012.

2 Australian Human Rights Commission Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2020). See also House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, Fifth Report of Session 2017–2019 (2018).

3 See for example C Nelson et al ‘Organisational responses for preventing and stopping sexual harassment: effective deterrents or continued endurance’ (2007) Sex Roles 811 at 811.

4 Charlesworth, S et al. ‘Naming and claiming workplace sexual harassment in Australia’ (2011) 46(2) Australian Journal of Social Issues 141 at 157CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the effect of this on bystanders see Parker, C ‘Public rights in private government: corporate compliance with sexual harassment legalisation’ (1999) 5(1) Australian Journal of Human Rights 159 at 182CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 See for example Lin, X and Leung, K ‘What signals does procedural justice climate convey? The role of group status, and organizational benevolence and integrity’ (2014) 35 Journal of Organisational Behavior 464CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 C Rubino et al ‘And justice for all: how organizational justice climate deters sexual harassment’ (2018) Personal Psychology 1.

7 A Numhauser-Henning ‘Sexual harassment – discrimination versus dignity: a comment in the wake of the #metoo movement’ Conference presentation, Berkeley Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law Study Group, Department of Law, Stockholm University, Sweden, 17–18 June 2019, pp 13–14.

8 AHRC, above n 1.

9 Women, UN and Organisation, International Labour Handbook: Addressing Violence and Harassment against Women in the World of Work (Geneva: International Labour Organisation, 2019) p 26Google Scholar.

10 AHRC, above n 1, p 86.

11 Ibid, p 86.

12 Ibid, p 79.

13 Ibid, pp 80–81.

14 Ibid, p 82.

15 Ibid, p 83.

16 Ibid, p 46.

17 Ibid, p 31.

18 Ibid, p 27.

19 Ibid, p 99.

20 Ibid, p 107.

21 Ibid, p 77.

22 Ibid, p 86. See also Charlesworth, S et al. ‘Below the “tip of the iceberg”: extra-legal responses to workplace sexual harassment’ (2011) 34 Women's Studies International Forum 278 at 285Google Scholar; Sturm, S ‘Second generation employment discrimination: a structural approach’ (2001) 101 Columbia Law Review 458 at 501CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 See B, C and D v Australia Postal Corporation [2013] FWCB 6191.

24 On the US experience of the implementation of symbolic structures within organisations rather than substantive commitment to non-discrimination and equal employment opportunity see Edelman, L Working Law: Courts Corporations and Symbolic Civil Rights (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016) pp 153–167Google Scholar. See also Bisom-Rapp, S ‘An ounce of prevention is a poor substitute for a pound of cure: confronting the developing jurisprudence of education and prevention in employment discrimination law’ (2001) 22 Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law 1 at 3Google Scholar.

25 See McDonald, P and Charlesworth, S ‘Settlement outcomes in sexual harassment complaints’ (2013) 24(4) Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 259 at 260Google Scholar.

26 Klaas, B et al. ‘The determinants of alternative forms of workplace voice: an integrated perspective’ (2012) 38(1) Journal of Management 314 at 318–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Charlesworth et al, above n 4, at 144.

27 See Employment Services Australia Pty Ltd v Poniatowska [2010] FCA 1043 at [68].

28 Ibid.

29 AHRC, above n 1, p 100.

30 See campaign sponsored by the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sexual Harassment: Know Where the Line Is (2014), available at https://www.humanrights.gov.au/about/news/sexual-harassment-know-where-line (accessed 28 May 2020).

31 Harlos, K ‘If you build a remedial voice mechanism, will they come? Determinants of voicing interpersonal treatment at work’ (2010) 63(3) Human Relations 311 at 316CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 Edelman, L and Suchman, M ‘When the “haves” hold court: speculations on the organizational internalization of law’ (1999) 33 Law and Society Review 941 at 967CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Green, T Discrimination Laundering: The Rise of Organisational Innocence and the Crisis of Equal Opportunity Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016) p 31Google Scholar.

33 Sturm, above n 22, at 471.

34 See Felstiner, W et al. ‘The emergence and transformation of disputes: naming blaming and claiming…’ (1980–1981) 15(3/4) Law & Society Review 631CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Charlesworth et al, above n 4, at 143.

35 See Marshall, A-M ‘Injustice frames, illegality and the everyday construction of sexual harassment’ (2003) 28(3) Law and Social Inquiry 659 at 676CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Thornton, M ‘Sexual harassment losing sight of sex discrimination’ (2002) 26(2) Melbourne University Law Review 422 at 423Google Scholar.

36 On the Australian position see R v Equal Opportunity Board, ex parte Burns [1985] VR 317 at 323; Bennett & Another v Everitt & Another [1988] HREOCA 7 at [13]; Hall v A & A Sheiban Pty Ltd [1989] FCA 172 at [48]; Ferreira v Wollongong Spanish Club Pty Ltd [2005] NSWADT 57. See also MacDermott, T ‘The duty to provide a harassment-free work environment’ (1995) 37(4) Journal of Industrial Relations 495CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This obligation has been equated with the non-delegable duty of an employer at common law to take reasonable care for the health and safety of his or her employees: M v R Pty Ltd (19988) EOC 92–229. This obligation is also given statutory force in work health and safety legislation.

37 Green, above n 32, p 1.

38 Ibid.

39 MacDermott, above n 36, at 500; Parker, above n 4, at 169.

40 Thornton, above n 35, at 435.

41 See McDonald, P and Charlesworth, S ‘Framing sexual harassment through media representations’ (2013) 37 Women's Studies International Forum 95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 Lind, A and Tyler, T The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice (York: Plenum, 1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tyler, T ‘Public trust and confidence in legal authorities: what do majority and minority group members want from the law and legal institutions’ (2001) 19(2) Behavioral Sciences & the Law 215CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

43 D Steiner and M Bertolino ‘The contributions of organisational justice theory to combating discrimination’ (2006) 10–11 Cahiers de l'Urmis [6].

44 Ibid [2].

45 J Colquitt ‘On the dimensionality of organisational justice: a construct validation of a measure’ (2001) Journal of Applied Psychology 386; Blader, S and Tyler, T ‘What constitutes fairness in a workplace setting: a four component model of procedural justice’ (2003) 13 Human Resources Management Review 107CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

46 Colquitt, J et al. ‘Justice at the millennium, a decade later: a meta-analytic test of social exchange and affect-based perspectives’ (2013) 98(2) Journal of Applied Psychology 199CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

47 Richardson v Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Ltd [2013] FCA 102; on appeal [2014] FCAFC 82.

48 [2014] FCAFC 82.

49 [2013] FCA 102 at [48].

50 [2013] FCA 102 at [193]; confirmed on appeal [2014] FCAFC 82 at [34].

51 [2013] FCA 102 at [62].

52 [2013] FCA 102 at [68].

53 See Bies, R and Tyler, T ‘The litigation mentality in organizations: a test of alternative psychological explanations’ (1993) 4 Organization Science 352CrossRefGoogle Scholar; A Lind et al ‘The winding road from employee to complainant: situational and psychological determinants of wrongful termination claims’ (2000) Administrative Science Quarterly 557; Goldman, B ‘Towards an understanding of employment discrimination claiming: an integration of organisational justice and social information processing theories’ (2001) 54 Personnel Psychology 361CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 Tyler, T and Lind, A ‘A relational model of authority in groups’ (1992) 25 Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 115 at 121–122Google Scholar.

55 See for example Angelakos v Coles Supermarkets Aust Pty Ltd [2019] FWC 29; NSW Attorney-General's Department v Miller (2007) 160 IR 185.

56 AHRC, above n 1, pp 80–81.

57 Nelson et al, above n 3, at 812. On the limitations of polices themselves see Hertzog, J et al. ‘There's a policy for that: a comparison of the organisational culture of workplaces reporting incidents of sexual harassment’ (2008) 17 Behavior and Social Issues 169 at 177CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Magley, V et al. ‘Changing sexual harassment within organizations via training interventions’ in Burke, R and Cooper, C (eds) The Fulfilling Workplace: The Organization's Role in Achieving Individual and Organizational Health (Burlington, Vt: Routledge, 2013) p 241Google Scholar.

58 See for example Prasad, V ‘If anyone is listening, #metoo: breaking the culture of silence around sexual abuse through regulating non-disclosure agreements and secret settlements’ (2018) 57 Boston College Law Review 2507Google Scholar; Blackham, A and Allen, D ‘Resolving discrimination claims outside the courts: alternative dispute resolution in Australia and the United Kingdom’ (2019) 31 Australian Journal of Labour Law 253Google Scholar.

59 Thornton, above n 35, at 423.

60 [2013] FCA 102, [88].

61 Tyler and Lind, above n 54.

62 Thibaut, J and Walker, L Procedural Justice A Psychological Analysis (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1975)Google Scholar.

63 See the work referenced by Tyler and Lind, above n 54, at 122.

64 See for example Good, L and Cooper, R ‘Voicing their complaints? The silence of students working in retail and hospitality and sexual harassment from customers’ (2014) 24(4) Labour and Industry 302CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Charlesworth et al, above n 4.

65 Harlos, above n 31.

66 [2013] FCA 10 at [88].

67 Charlesworth et al, above n 4, at 154; Charlesworth et al, above n 22, at 285; Quinn, B ‘The paradox of complaining: law, humour, and harassment in the everyday work world’ (2000) 25 Law and Society Inquiry 1151 at 1171CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fitzgerald, L et al. ‘Why didn't she just report him? The psychological and legal implications of women's response to sexual harassment’ (1995) 51(1) Journal of Social Issues 117CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Good and Cooper, above n 64; Milliken, F et al. ‘An exploratory study of employee silence: issues that employees don't communicate upwards and why’ (2003) 40(6) Journal of Management Studies 1453CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

68 Klaas, above n 26, at 318; Milliken et al, ibid, at 1473.

69 Klaas, above n 26, at 323.

70 Ibid, at 319.

71 S Chappell and L Bowes-Sperry ‘Improving organisational responses to sexual harassment using the giving voice to values approach’ (2015) Organisational Management Journal 236 at 245.

72 Saldana v John Danks and Sons Pty Ltd [2009] VCAT 448 at [32]. See also Walgama v Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Ltd [2007] VCAT 131.

73 Richardson v Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Ltd [2013] FCA 102 at [163].

74 At [176].

75 At [174].

76 See for example Colquitt, above n 45; Blader and Tyler above n 45.

77 Bies, R ‘Interactional justice: looking backwards, looking forwards’ in Cropanzano, R and Ambrose, M (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Justice in the Workplace (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015) p 3Google Scholar.

78 Ibid, p 13.

79 T Allan ‘Procedural fairness and the duty of respect’ (1998) 18 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 497 at 500.

80 Above n 5, at 465.

81 See for example Barmes, L Bullying and Behavioural Conflict at Work: The Duality of Individual Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015) p 195CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

82 [2013] FCA 10 at [43].

83 Charlesworth, S ‘Risky business: managing sexual harassment at work’ (2002) 11(2) Griffith Law Review 353 at 373Google Scholar.

84 Green, above n 32, pp 146–147.

85 Barmes, L and Ashtiany, S ‘The diversity approach to achieving equality: potential and pitfalls’ (2003) 32 Industrial Law Journal 274 at 281CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

86 Sturm, above n 22, at 462–463.

87 Barmes, above n 81, p 183.

88 See for example the employer's obligation as a person in control of a business undertaking (‘to eliminate risks to health and safety’ as far as is ‘reasonably practicable’ under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), s 17).

89 Above n 7.

90 AHRC, above n 2, p 757.

91 AHRC, above n 2, p 767.

92 Barmes, above n 81, p 209.

93 Green, T and Kalev, A ‘Discrimination-reducing measures at the relational level’ (2007) 59(6) Hastings Law Journal 1435 at 1438Google Scholar; Bisom-Rapp, above n 24, at 44–46.

94 S Sturm and H Gadlin ‘Conflict resolution and systemic change’ (2007) Journal of Dispute Resolution 1 at 56.

95 AHRC, above n 2, p 694.

96 Sturm and Gadlin, above n 94, at 4. In the context of the UK positive public sector equality duty, the designated consultation with stakeholders has been described as requiring a participative and deliberative process: Mandredi, S et al. ‘The public sector equality duty: enforcing equality through second-generation regulation’ (2018) 47(3) Industrial Law Journal 365 at 395Google Scholar.

97 AHRC, above n 2, pp 683–687.

98 See Rubino et al, above n 6, p 7; Timmermann, G, and Bajema, C ‘The impact of organizational culture on perceptions and experiences of sexual harassment’ (2000) 57 Journal of Vocational Behavior 188, p 203CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

99 Rubino et al, above n 6, at 6.

100 Barmes, above n 81, p 242.

101 Richardson v Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Ltd [2013] FCA 102 at [163].

102 Saldana v John Danks and Sons Pty Ltd [2009] VCAT 448 at [32]. See also Walgama v Toyota Motor Corporation Australia Ltd (Anti-Discrimination) [2007] VCAT 131.