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Harassment in the workplace
It’ s not just university students who are exposed to sexual harassment on campus.
By Loren Smith
On-campus sexual assault and harassment was one of the biggest news stories of the year. Yet only students were the focus of the Australian Human Rights Commission’ s inquiry and report on this subject.
This doesn’ t mean university staff are immune to this phenomenon. Indeed, the Weinstein scandal has shifted the victim spotlight to employees, across all industries.
THE STATS( OR LACK THEREOF) Jeannie Rea, president of the National Tertiary Education Union( NTEU), admits the scale of sexual harassment of university staff is unknown, since it’ s never been surveyed.
“ Because women don’ t tend to report [ sexual harassment ], most of what we know is based on … warnings from other women –‘ Don’ t go into that guy’ s office, don’ t let them shut the door, don’ t be around in late hours’,” she says.
Rea even petitioned the AHRC to include staff in its inquiry, to little avail. The commission has promised it will question this cohort specifically, as part of its upcoming quinquennial survey of sexual harassment in the workplace.
However, she says university staff are“ in the same situation as across so many other sectors in the workforce”. That is, harassment is an issue, and it mostly affects women.
The latest 2012 AHRC workplace sexual harassment survey found that over one in five people experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the preceding five years. This comprises one-third of women and one-tenth of men.
Professor Eileen Baldry, deputy vice-chancellor( inclusion and diversity) at UNSW, agrees that staff sexual harassment is probably under-reported,“ as is the case in broader society”. In the past five years, her university received just nine formal reports of sexual harassment and one of sexual assault.
REPORTING IN THE POST-WEINSTEIN ERA Deakin University’ s Professor David Marshall says the deluge of Weinstein allegations“ appears to … be making a difference” in changing societal views toward sexual harassment. But will that evolution be felt in our universities?
Baldry is hopeful it will. She says since sexual harassment has been prominent over the past year, particularly in universities due to the AHRC inquiry and report, people are more likely to report it.
Yet some unique working conditions could prevent it. For example, Rea mentions that“ precarious” casual or short-term contract working arrangements could present barriers to reporting harassment, as people might fear losing their jobs.
Paul O’ Halloran, a partner in the employment and safety team at law firm Colin Biggers & Paisley, says that universities’ decentralised natures makes the detection of offences more difficult.
“ Whether it’ s lectures or classes, [ university staff aren’ t ] really supervised in the way that perhaps employees in other sorts of work places might be,” he says. However, he adds that most sexual harassment in universities occurs either online or out of work hours, both of which still legally constitute a work environment.
In addition, Rea believes the fact that there are few known cases where the victim has seen justice has created a crisis of confidence among would-be accusers.“ There’ s a reasonable assumption that things may be covered up,” she says.
Indeed, a cursory Google search reveals only one major university sexual harassment lawsuit in recent years, against Monash. The plaintiff, Chen, lost. But O’ Halloran indicates she was“ vexatious”, meaning she brought the suit without due cause. He said universities need not be fearful of these sorts of claims, as courts will either dismiss them or, in deciding for the defendant, order the plaintiff to pay all legal costs.
Nonetheless, O’ Halloran, who has acted for universities in such matters, thinks many universities should consolidate their antisexual harassment strategies, which he describes as“ generally deficient” in terms of their legal robustness.
“ It’ s not just policies, it’ s training that occurs at least twice a year for all of the workforce,” he says.“ Interactive training that allows people to ask questions about what is and what is not sexual harassment.” This is because sexual harassment suits are hard to defend, as workplaces, including universities, have to prove they took“ all reasonable steps” to prevent it. This means, for victims at least, legal recourse is viable, if not preferable. A few years ago, courts awarded victims of sexual harassment $ 10,000 in damages. Now, such claims attract payouts of at least $ 70,000.
BETTER THAN CURE Universities obviously prefer to prevent sexual harassment than deal with it ex post facto. The 10-point plan they adopted in the wake of the AHRC report includes“ new training for university staff and leaders about prevention and responses to sexual harassment and sexual assault”. Many added bespoke initiatives to this. UNSW, for instance, introduced a sexual misconduct reporting portal for students and staff in July.
In 2012, by contrast, the AHRC workplace sexual harassment survey concluded that mere awareness of sexual harassment“ remains limited”. With the recent flood of allegations from Hollywood and beyond, this is sure to change. Baldry takes this further still. She believes“ we are probably entering … a new and more open, and more responsive, and preventive era.” ■
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