Oz 22 Painting Pty Ltd was sentenced ex parte in the Sunshine Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 11 March after being found guilty of a single charge of failing to provide a workplace that was safe and without risks to health.
The company was also ordered to pay costs of $6,792.
The court heard the inappropriate behaviour began from the worker's first trial shift in May 2022 when the company's manager, the husband of the company's sole director, made comments about the worker's appearance and asked intrusive personal questions.
This behaviour continued and escalated to repeated requests to spend time together and an incident where the manager put his arm around the worker's neck before smiling and walking away.
In July 2022, the manager picked the worker up from Bundoora train station on the pretence that they had a job in the area. Instead, he drove the worker around for more than 1.5 hours, pressuring them to spend the day with him.
The worker recorded some of these conversations, which included suggestions they go to a hotel room and give each other massages.
The worker resigned following this incident and continues to suffer flashbacks and disturbed sleep while being treated for anxiety and depression.
Following a complaint to WorkSafe, an investigation found the worker had been subjected to about 60 days of harassment from when they started with Oz 22 Painting until they quit, and that the company had no sexual harassment policy in place.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for the company to devise and implement a policy on appropriate and inappropriate workplace behaviour, including sexual harassment, that provided a reporting and response process for workers and training to managers, supervisors and workers.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said inappropriate workplace behaviour, including sexual harassment, was a common cause of mental and physical injury which, as this case sadly highlighted, could have long-lasting impacts.
"This is an abhorrent case of someone in a position of power preying on a vulnerable worker new to the job," Mr Jenkin said. "Sadly they were failed not only by the perpetrator but the company as a whole, which should have had systems in place to prevent and respond to bad behaviour."
"It is every employer's responsibility to set clear standards of behaviour in their workplace and ensure they have policies in place to identify, prevent, respond to and report sexual harassment if it does occur."
To prevent workplace bullying and harassment employers should:
- Set clear standards of which behaviours are allowed and which are not in your workplace through training and leaders role modelling desired behaviours.
- Have policies and procedures to guide a consistent approach to prevent, respond and report workplace bullying and harassment. Discuss and promote these in team meetings and health and safety committee meetings.
- Encourage reporting. It is important for those who experience or witness workplace bullying or harassment to know who they can talk to, that a report will be taken seriously and that confidentiality will be maintained.
- Ensure that information about workplace bullying and harassment, including relevant policies and procedures, are part of supervisor training and new employee inductions.
- All employers should carry out a regular check of the workplace in consultation with employees and health and safety representatives to identify hazards and risks such as signs that bullying or harassment is happening or if there is an increased risk of it happening.
