Discrimination and Harassment Policy

Scope:

This policy applies to:

• All board members
• All members of the organization, parents, full-time, part-time or casual, temporary or permanent staff; student placements, contractors, sub-contractors and volunteers
• How Amazing Parents provides services to clients and how it interacts with other members of the public
• All aspects of social activities and engagements related to Amazing Parents, task allocation and task executions
• Member’s treatment of other members, clients, and of other members of the public encountered in the course of Amazing Parents duties.

Aims:

• Amazing Parents is committed to providing a safe, flexible and respectful environment for all its members and clients free from all forms of discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment.

• All Amazing Parents members are required to treat others with dignity, courtesy and respect.

• By effectively implementing our Workplace discrimination and harassment policy we will create a positive environment for all stakeholders directly and indirectly associated with Amazing Parents.

Members rights and responsibilities:

All members are entitled to:

• Perform their responsibilities without being affected by irrelevant personal characteristics
• Work free from discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment
• The right to raise issues or to make an enquiry or complaint in a reasonable and respectful manner without being victimized.
• Reasonable flexibility in time commitment to discharge organization duties, especially where needed to accommodate their family responsibilities, disability, religious beliefs or culture.

All members must:

• Follow the standards of behaviour outlined in this policy
• Offer support to people who experience discrimination, bullying or sexual harassment, including providing information about how to make a complaint
• Avoid gossip and respect the confidentiality of complaint resolution procedures
• Treat everyone with dignity, courtesy and respect.

Additional responsibilities of President and executive committee members:

President and executive committee members must also:

• Model appropriate standards of behavior
• Take steps to educate and make members of Amazing Parents aware of their obligations under this policy and the law
• Intervene quickly and appropriately when they become aware of inappropriate behavior
• Act fairly to resolve issues and enforce workplace behavioural standards, making sure relevant parties are heard
• Help members resolve complaints informally
• Refer formal complaints about breaches of this policy to the Secretary for investigation
• Ensure members who raise an issue or make a complaint are not victimised

Unacceptable workplace conduct:

Discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment are unacceptable at Amazing Parents and are unlawful under the following legislation:

Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)

Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)

Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)

Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)

Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth).

Members including the President found to have engaged in such conduct might be counselled, warned or disciplined. Severe or repeated breaches can lead to formal discipline up to and including dismissal.

Discrimination:

Discrimination is treating, or proposing to treat, someone unfavorably because of a personal characteristic protected by the law, such as sex, age, race or disability.

Discrimination can occur:

Directly, when a person or group is treated less favorably than another person or group in a similar situation because of a personal characteristic protected by law.

Indirectly, when an unreasonable requirement, condition or practice is imposed that has, or is likely to have, the effect of disadvantaging people with a personal characteristic protected by law.

Protected personal characteristics under Federal discrimination law include:

• a disability, disease or injury, including work-related injury
• parental status or status as a carer, for example, because they are responsible for caring for children or other family members
• race, colour, descent, national origin, or ethnic background
• age, whether young or old, or because of age
• general sex
• religion
• pregnancy and breastfeeding
• sexual orientation, intersex status or gender identity, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, queer and heterosexual
• marital status, whether married, divorced, unmarried or in a de facto relationship or same sex relationship
• political opinion
• social origin
• medical record
• an association with someone who has, or is assumed to have, one of these characteristics, such as being the parent of a child with a disability.

It is also against the law to treat someone unfavourably because you assume, they have a personal characteristic or may have it at some time in the future.

Bullying:

If someone is being bullied because of a personal characteristic protected by equal opportunity law, it is a form of discrimination.

Bullying can take many forms, including jokes, teasing, nicknames, emails, pictures, text messages, social isolation or ignoring people, or unfair work practices.

Under Federal law, this behavior does not have to be repeated to be discrimination – it may be a one-off event.

Behaviors that may constitute bullying include:

• sarcasm and other forms of demeaning language
• threats, abuse or shouting
• coercion
• isolation
• inappropriate blaming
• ganging up
• constant unconstructive criticism
• deliberately withholding information or equipment that a person needs to do their job or access their entitlements
• unreasonable refusal of requests for leave, training or other workplace benefits.

Bullying is unacceptable in Amazing Parents and may also be against occupational health and safety law.

Sexual harassment:

Sexual harassment is a specific and serious form of harassment. It is unwelcome sexual behavior, which could be expected to make a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. Sexual harassment can be physical, spoken or written. It can include:

• comments about a person’s private life or the way they look
• sexually suggestive behaviour, such as leering or staring
• brushing up against someone, touching, fondling or hugging
• sexually suggestive comments or jokes
• displaying offensive screen savers, photos, calendars or objects
• repeated unwanted requests to go out
• requests for sex
• sexually explicit posts on social networking sites
• insults or taunts of a sexual nature
• intrusive questions or statements about a person’s private life
• sending sexually explicit emails or text messages
• inappropriate advances on social networking sites
• accessing sexually explicit internet sites
• behaviour that may also be considered to be an offence under criminal law, such as physical assault, indecent exposure, sexual assault, stalking or obscene communications.

Just because someone does not object to inappropriate behavior in the workplace at the time, it does not mean that they are consenting to the behavior.

Sexual harassment is covered in the workplace when it happens at work, at work-related events, between people sharing the same workplace, or between colleagues outside of work.

All members and volunteers have the same rights and responsibilities in relation to sexual harassment.

A single incident is enough to constitute sexual harassment – it doesn’t have to be repeated.

All incidents of sexual harassment – no matter how large or small or who is involved – require the President to respond quickly and appropriately.

Amazing Parents recognizes that comments and behaviour that do not offend one person can offend another. This policy requires all members and volunteers to respect other people’s limits.

Victimization:

Victimization is subjecting or threatening to subject someone to a detriment because they have asserted their rights under equal opportunity law, made a complaint, helped someone else make a complaint, or refused to do something because it would be discrimination, sexual harassment or victimization. Victimization is against the law.

It is also victimization to threaten someone (such as a witness) who may be involved in investigating an equal opportunity concern or complaint.

Victimization is a very serious breach of this policy and is likely (depending on the severity and circumstances) to result in formal discipline against the perpetrator.

Amazing Parents has a zero-tolerance approach to victimisation.

Gossip:

It is unacceptable for members at Amazing Parents to talk with other members, clients or associates about any complaint of discrimination or harassment.

Breaching the confidentiality of a formal complaint investigation or inappropriately disclosing personal information obtained is a serious breach of this policy and may lead to formal disciplinary action.

Resolving issues at Amazing Parents:

Amazing Parents strongly encourages any member who believes they have been discriminated against, bullied, sexually harassed or victimized to take appropriate action by making a formal complaint to the Secretary of the organization by completing organization complaint form.

Members who do not feel safe or confident to take such action may seek assistance from the Executive Committee members for advice and support or action on their behalf.

Other relevant Amazing Parents policies:

All members including the President are encouraged to read this policy in conjunction with other relevant Amazing Parents policies, including the:

• Mission, vision and values statements
• Privacy Policies and
• Social Media Policies

More information:

If you have a query about this policy or need more information, please contact: president@amazingparents.org.au