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Substantial Disruption

December 4, 2018: Pete Davidson – Defiant Survivor; School Worker Safety Issues in Australia, NZ

By Mike Tully on December 4, 2018

Pete Davidson reveals online bullying struggle in emotional Instagram post

By Doha Madani, NBC News

“Saturday Night Live” cast member Pete Davidson, who has been open about his struggles with mental illness, spoke out on Instagram about getting bullied online for nine months, but assured his followers he would not let it drive him to suicide.

Davidson was thrust into the spotlight this year when news broke that he was dating singer Ariana Grande. The pair broke off their engagement in October after only a few months of dating.

Davidson was also the subject of criticism last month when he did a “Weekend Update” sketch that mocked congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw who lost an eye in combat.

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Australia: A recent $10 million undertaking puts the spotlight back on violence in schools

Article by Annie Smeaton, Cooper Grace Ward (Mondaq)

In a timely reminder of the impact of student violence in the education sector and its very real cost to staff and educational institutions, the ACT Education Directorate has recently entered into a record undertaking with Worksafe ACT in relation to injuries suffered by staff.

Following a series of investigations by WorkSafe, it was alleged that the Education Directorate had failed to comply with its duties under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT). Specifically, WorkSafe alleged that the Education Directorate had not done all that was reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of staff because it had:

– applied inconsistent or inadequate controls to workplace hazards associated with student behaviour
– failed to adequately adjust controls following incidents or changes in circumstances
– failed to provide adequate training to staff in the application of identified controls.

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New Zealand: Importance of application of Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to schools

Article by Sarah Townsend, Duncan Cotterill (Mondaq)

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSW Act) places a duty on all workplaces, including schools, to manage health and safety.

That can feel daunting when you consider the multitude of health and safety risks associated with running a school. These include not just bullying and behavioural risks, but risks associated with school grounds and buildings and education outside the classroom.

There are a number of steps that school principals and Boards of Trustees can take to manage these issues. Having robust systems in place to identify and control risks and consulting with other organisations on health and safety will often be key.

What health and safety duties do schools have?
Schools are required to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, a work environment that is without risks to safety.It requires people in charge of schools to identify and assess risks and hazards created by their activities and to remove or minimise them where possible.

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December 3, 2018: Female Lawyers Harassed; Workplace Bullying Overlooked in Canada; #MeToo and the Workplace

By Mike Tully on December 3, 2018

More Than Third of Female Lawyers Harassed at Work, Survey Shows

By Sam Skolnik, Bloomberg Law

More than a third of female lawyers have been sexually harassed at work, according to findings released by a legal research firm.

The total was actually 35 percent. Of that, 23 percent of women attorneys at law firms and working in-house received sexually suggestive comments, and 17 percent reported being subjected to inappropriate physical contact, according to data released by Acritas.

The findings published Nov. 28 support the view that the legal industry is still too complacent when it comes to stopping misconduct at work that harms mostly women. But 7 percent of male attorneys also said they’d been sexually harassed.

Sexual harassment allegations at several big firms have been made public in recent years, including an instance in which a Baker McKenzie partner lost his job in February after allegations that he had sexually assaulted a female associate at the firm.

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Workplace bullying survey finds high level of non-compliance

Workers Health & Safety Centre

A recent survey of almost 1,900 Canadians revealed many employers are ignoring reported incidents of workplace bullying.

A random phone survey, conducted in October, 2018 by polling firm Forum Research, found more than half of Canadians say they, a co-worker, or both have been bullied at work. For one in four of these bullied workers, they faced it on a daily basis. Another one in four reported facing bullying behaviour once a week.

Only half of those bullied reported the incident to their employer. In these instances, it was reported just one in three employers took action to address the bullying. Equally troubling, three-quarters of those surveyed stated the person bullying them did not face any consequences after it was reported.

Those who identified as disabled or from the LGBT+ community reported even higher levels of bullying. Older workers experienced bullying more often than their younger counter parts.

On a positive note, in instances where the employer took action to end the bullying, two-thirds reported the actions were effective.

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#METOO ONE YEAR LATER: HAS YOUR WORKPLACE CULTURE CHANGED?

by Kandia Johnson, Black Enterprise

About 10 years ago, Tarana Burke launched the Me Too movement—an anti-sexual assault initiative launched to support survivors of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. For a while, the movement quietly persisted But in 2017, multiple sexual assault and harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein reignited the #MeToo movement and sparked chaos, conversation, and change across workplaces around the world.

To gain some insight into how the #MeToo movement has changed workplace culture, we interviewed Sarah Morgan, the senior human resources director for SafeStreetsUSA and founder of BuzzARooney L.L.C., a Human Resources Management, and leadership consulting company.

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