Tougher bullying laws mean that there are more legal options available - but how effective are they?

Angela Sdrinis and Carol Andrades continue to examine legal avenues to compensation.

Part 2: Legal Remedies for Bullying - Tort of Intentional Harm, Anti-Discrimination Laws, Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) and the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)

As noted in Part 1 of the blog, there are thresholds which apply to the recovery of common law damages arising out of personal injury at work, including bullying behavior. In New South Wales, there has been at least one example (Naidu’s Case – see below) of...

Bullying at work - tougher bullying laws mean that there are more legal options available, but how effective are they?

Over two instalments, Angela Sdrinis and Carol Andrades examine legal avenues to compensation.

Part 1: Legal Remedies for Bullying-Criminal Law, Compensation and Negligence

Bullying at work has had a lot of media coverage following the death of Brodie Panlock, who committed suicide after being mercilessly bullied at work. On 31 May 2011, the Victorian Government passed legislation known informally as Brodie’s Law which made bullying a criminal offence in some circumstances.

Bullying can constitute a breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004...

Women in the Legal Profession: has it really changed?

Senior partner, Angela Sdrinis, reflects on her career and the challenges still facing women lawyers: inequality and the struggle for work-life balance.

The recent TV mini-series Paper Giants which dramatized the rise to fame of Ita Buttrose as the precocious editor of Cleo magazine brought back many memories for me of what it was like to be a professional woman in the 70s.

Sleazy middle-aged barristers thought that young female articled clerks were easy game and it was commonplace to be cornered in a court corridor by Counsel who thought that they were...

In the wake of the Kristy Fraser-Kirk case – sexual harassment in the workplace

“No level of sexual harassment is tolerable.”

It’s not everyday that a company like David Jones is so publicly exposed by a sexual harassment case.

The size of the damages sought, the salacious stories about alleged misconduct by the CEO, and the public posturing grabbed everyone’s attention.

What’s undeniable is that the case put sexual harassment in the workplace back in the public eye and top of the topics at BBQs, in bars, in the office, and even around the dinner table. Which is probably a good thing.

Perhaps more...