While bullying behaviour has a legislative definition that includes, in part, repeated behaviour, the

Application of this Policy This Policy will apply to all workers of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland. For the purposes of this document the term workerr will apply to employees, volunteers, contractors or subcontractors, employees of a contractor or subcontractor, employees of a labour hire company assigned to work in the Church Agency, outworkers, apprentices or trainees, and students gaining work experience. It is a requirement that Schools will have in place a policy equivalent to the provisions of this document as required under Queensland Legislation in regards its staff or utilise this Policy. Complaints regarding Clergy are currently actioned under the provisions of the Clergy Complaints and Performance Protocol. Note that complaints of sexual harassment or assault or sexually inappropriate behaviour which fall under the Professional Standards Canon are not dealt with under this Policy and Procedures. Find out more about these Professional Standards Resources at the Anglican Brisbane website (www.anglicanbrisbane.org.au). Policy Statement The Anglican Church Southern Queensland (the Church) takes very seriously its responsibility to provide a workplace that is freee from bullying, discrimination and harassment. The Church is committed to supporting staff to speak out on matters that they consider are discriminatory or harassing behaviour, including bullying. Bullying, harassment and discrimination are all unlawful. The Church has a responsibility for the behaviour of its employee and therefore an onus exists for those managing and supervising staff to ensure that this type of behaviour does not occur or is ceased immediately when identified as occurring. All allegations of inappropriate behaviour may be either informally or formally raised and will be resolved through the application of processes that align with general principles of good faith, natural justice, procedural fairness and recognised employment practices. While bullying behaviour has a legislative definition that includes, in part, repeated behaviour, the Church holds a position that all staff have the right to expect a workplace that is free from bullying, harassing and discriminatory behaviour, and that working in a Diocesan workplace should be a positive experience. It is expected that all allegations of inappropriate behaviour, regardless of frequency, should be drawn to the attention of someone in a position of authority for an overall workplace or the Executive Director of the relevant Commission or. Guiding principles The following principles will apply has spoken up in good faith and, workplace bullying, harassment or Shared responsibility to all allegations raised under this Policy wheree any staff member on face value, inappropriate behaviour that could be considered discrimination may have occurred. The Church and its workers have a shared responsibility in ensuring the health and safety of workers and others in the workplace. The Qld Work Health & Safety Act 2011 defines health HARASSMENT & Page 1 of 8

as both physical and psychological health. Psychological health includes emotional and mental health. As the employer, the Churchh has the responsibility for taking reasonable steps to ensure the organisation has and uses appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks associated with bullying, discrimination and harassment under respective legislation. The Church and its Agencies also have responsibilities for ensuring that the work environment and workplace culture is not sexually or racially hostile. As a worker, each staff member (and other persons in the workplace) is responsible for: taking reasonable care for their own health and safety; taking reasonable care thatt their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons; and complying, so far as is reasonably practicable, with any reasonable instruction given by the organisation. In the interests of workplace health and safety and care of others, all persons, working for or associated with the Church, are expected to report incidents where they consider bullying, harassment or discrimination may have occurred. Prevention The Church will promote a safe and healthy work environment by: Actively seeking to make workers aware of this Policy & Procedures; Circulating and displaying information aimed at preventing inappropriate behaviour; taking all reasonably practicable measures to ensure that all workplaces are free from material that may reasonably offend, intimidate, humiliate or insult staff; maintaining up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, advisory standards and best practice materials concerning matters covered by this Policy & Procedures; providing staff who have supervisory responsibility with clear direction on the appropriate way to handle an allegation; circulating and making available information on how to appropriately raise an allegation; ensuring that victimisation does not occur when an allegation is raised; and taking necessary disciplinary action where an allegation has been substantiated, or where a claim has been found to be falsely made and/or is vexatious and/or malicious. All parties have the right to be protected from victimisation, discrimination and retribution. A person making a complaint and/or who is a witness to workplace harassment will not be victimised. Disciplinary action will be taken against a person who harasses a worker or who victimises a person who has made or is a witness to a complaint. Bullying, harassment and discrimination are unlawful both during and outside work hours and not restricted to between workers. Bullying, harassment and discrimination is unlawful on any work related activities including training, conferences, functions, office parties and business or field trips and includes interactions with clients and other persons. HARASSMENT & Page 2 of 8

Natural justice and procedural fairness The process is based on the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, and will be fair to all parties both the person making the allegation [the complainant] and the person against whom the allegation is made [the respondent]. The complainant has the right to: a transparent, confidential and procedurally fair process; be heard; have their allegation treated seriously; have the matter dealt with in a timely manner; have the decision made by an unbiased person; have the decision made on reasonably sound evidence; be informed of the process for managing the allegation; be informed of the outcome and the reasons for that outcome. The respondent has the right to: a transparent, confidential and procedurally fair process; be informed of the details of the allegation in writing; where reasonable, to have the complainant identified; be informed of the process for managing the allegation; be provided with an opportunity to respond fully to the allegation; have their response taken seriously and fully considered in an impartial manner before a decision is made; be informed of the outcome, and the reasons for that outcome; appeal the outcome of the process through the Director of Human Resources or the Church, as defined elsewhere. Privacy and confidentiality All parties are bound by confidentiality and must ensure that information regarding allegations is restricted only to those who have a need to know, in order to protect the privacy of all parties. Some information may need to be disclosed in accordance with legal and other regulatory requirements. Personal information collected in the course of managing an allegation will be dealt with in accordance with the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and the Diocesan Privacy Policy. Workplace Bullying Queensland Workplace Health and Safety legislation and the relevant Guide states that workplace bullying is: repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. HARASSMENT & Page 3 of 8

Repeated Behaviour refers to the persistent nature of the behaviour and can refer to a range of behaviours over time. Unreasonable Behaviour means behaviour that a reasonable person, having regard for all of the circumstances, would see as unreasonable, including behaviour that is victimising, humiliating, intimidating or threatening. Workplace bullying can be verbal, physical, non-verbal or psychological. It can occur face-to-face, over the phone, via email, instant messaging or via mobile phone technologies including social media and text messaging. Bullying can involve many different forms of unreasonable behaviour, which may be obvious (direct) or subtle (indirect). Bullying can occur on a number of levels: A staff member may bully their supervisor/manager; A supervisor/manager/senior staff member may bully a staff member; One staff member may bully another staff member; A group of staff members may bully a supervisor/manager ( mobbing ); A group of staff members may bully another staff member. The following situations are not considered to be workplace bullying: Single incidents A single incident of bullying type behaviour is not considered by Law to be workplace bullying. Nevertheless, single incidents of bullying type behaviour will not be ignored or allowed as this type of behaviour may have the potential to escalate and contravenes the values of the Church and its established Codes of Conduct and Faithfulness in Service. Reasonable management action Reasonable management action refers to actions taken by managers in the course of their role, e.g. to direct their staff members in the way their work should be carried out, and to monitor and give feedback on performance. In order to be considered reasonable, actions taken by managers should be appropriate to the circumstances, professional at all times and conducted in line with the values of the Church. Examples of reasonable management action include but are not limited to: setting reasonable performance goals, standards and deadlines rostering and allocating working hours where the requirements are reasonable transferring a worker for operational reasons deciding not to select a worker for promotion where a reasonable process is followed informing a worker about unsatisfactory work performance in an honest, fair and constructive way informing a worker about inappropriate behaviour in an objective and confidential way implementing organisational changes or restructuring taking disciplinary action, including suspension or terminating employment. HARASSMENT & Page 4 of 8

Examples of workplace bullying Examples of behaviour, whether intentional or unintentional, that may be considered to be workplace bullying if they are repeated, unreasonable and create a risk to health and safety include but are not limited to: abusive, insulting or offensive language or comments unjustified criticism or complaints deliberately excluding someone from workplace activities withholding information that is vital for effective work performance setting unreasonable timelines or constantly changing deadlines setting tasks that are unreasonably below or beyond a person s skill level denying access to information, supervision, consultation or resources to the detriment of the worker spreading misinformation or malicious rumours changing work arrangements worker or workers. Harassment Under federal and state legislation, harassment occurs when a person is made to feel intimidated, insulted or humiliated because of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin; gender; disability; sexual orientation; or some other characteristic specified under anti discrimination or human rights legislation. Sexual Harassment such as rosters and leave to deliberately inconvenience a particular Under federal and state legislation, sexual harassment is any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour, which would make a reasonable person, taking into account all of the circumstances, feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. Sexual harassment may include, but is not limited to: staring or leering; unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against a person or unwelcome touching; suggestive comments or jokes; insults or taunts of a sexual nature; intrusive questions or statements about a person s private life; the displaying of posters, magazines or screen savers of a sexual nature; sexually explicit emails or text messages; inappropriate advances on social networking sites; accessing sexually explicit internet sites; unwanted requests for sex or repeated unwanted requests to go out on dates; behaviour that may also be considered to be an offence under criminal law, such as, indecent exposure, sexual assault, stalking or obscene communications. HARASSMENT & Page 5 of 8

Sexual harassment is not behaviour which is based on mutual attraction friendship and respect. If the interaction is consensual, welcome and reciprocated it is not sexual harassment. Discrimination Under federal and state legislation, it is unlawful to treat a person differently or less favourably than another person in the workplace (either a current or potential staff member) based on one or more of the following attributes: race; colour; gender; sexual orientation; age; physical or mental disability; marital status; family or carer s responsibilities; pregnancy; religious belief or religious activity; political opinion; trade union activity; national extraction or social origin. Workplace discrimination may occur in: recruiting and selecting staff; terms, conditions and benefits offered as part of employment; who receives training and what sort of training is offered; who is considered and selected for transfer, promotion, retrenchment or dismissal. The following are not considered to be workplace harassment or discrimination: legitimate and constructive comments and/or advice from managers and supervisors on the work performance or work related behaviour of an individual or group; the process of providing feedback to staff during a formal performance appraisal, or counselling staff regarding their work performance. Support person At every stage of the investigation and disciplinary process and at every meeting relating to the disciplinary process with the exclusion of informal discussion, the employee may choose to have a support person or union representative attend. The employee should be reminded of their right to choose to have a support person or union representative present throughoutt the process. The role of a support person is to support, guide, assist in clarifying, and to provide advice to the employee either during the meeting or during intervals that may be called by either party. The support person may include a colleague, family member, friend or lawyer. If they are a witness to the matter being investigated, they may not be a support person for the employee. The support person is not an advocate for the employee nor are they entitled to speak on behalf of the employee. This applies regardless of whether the support person has a background as a lawyer HARASSMENT & Page 6 of 8

or similar. Meetings may not continue if the support person seeks to speak on behalf of or represent the employee. Support persons are bound by the confidentiality of the process. Union Representative The union representative may be a union official/representative or workplace delegate. The union member is entitled to be represented by a union representative in alll proceedings, with the exclusion of informal discussions that would not result in a written warning or dismissal.. As a representative of the member, the union representative is entitled to speak and act for the member. Practically this may include: posing questions with the aim of clarifying management position; making statements regarding proper processes; assisting a member to articulate their recollection of events; or making submissions on behalf of the member. The involvement of a union representative does not displace the importance of active participation by the employee in the process. A union representative is bound by the confidentiality of the process. Balance of Probability While strict rules of evidence do not normally apply to workplace investigations, the Church has adopted the standard practice of applying civil rules as part of the application of the Guiding Principles listed above. Civil rules of evidence have been adopted because workplace investigation findings usually form the basis of subsequent employer decisions concerning the employee(s) under investigation such as terminating his or her employment contract. If the employee disputes this decision, he or she may seek to legally challenge it. This type of challenge is a civil action (as opposed to a criminal one) and will ultimately be determined according to the rules of evidence that apply to civil matters. If investigators use the same rules as would be applied by a court or tribunal on any subsequent challenge, it is likely that the factual findings will be similar and will withstand scrutiny by the court or tribunal. This practice gives the employer a sound basis to rely on the investigation findings in making any subsequent decisions. Proof on the balance of probabilities can be inferred to mean that of a greater likelihood or that it is more likely than not. Meree conjecture or speculation, which may range from the barely possible, to the quite possible, does not provide proof on the balance of probabilities. To establish 'proof on the balance of probabilities' a person must go furtherr than establish a 'possibility', but does not need to establish certainty. It is the weighing up or comparison of competing possibilities. This may require the investigator to compare competing versions of events from various witnesses to determine which version is more probable. This is undertaken not solely against a purely mechanical comparison of mathematical probabilities but also to "feel an actual persuasion and reasonable satisfaction of its occurrence or existence before it can be found". (Australian case of Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336 the High Court) HARASSMENT & Page 7 of 8

RELATED DOCUMENTS Code of Conduct for ASQ or DSC/FSC Diocesan Privacy Policy Staff Grievances and Disputes Resolution Policy & Procedures http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/aa1991204/ Managing Unsatisfactory Work Performance and/or Behaviours Policy & Procedures Professional Standards Canon Faithfulness in Service Policy & Procedures for Dealing with a Request for Review of Decision or Action of a Commission in the Church of Brisbane Lodging an Allegation of Bullying, Harassment or Discrimination Form Workplace Health & Safety Policy RELEVANT LEGISLATION\BY-LAWS COMMONWEALTH: Age Discrimination Act 2004 Australian Human Rights Commission Disability Discrimination Act 1992 Racial Discrimination Act 1975 Sex Discrimination Act 1984 Workers Compensation & Rehabilita Fair Work Act 2009 n Act 1986 ation Act 2003 QUEENSLAND Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) Workers Compensation & Rehabilitation Act 2011 (Qld) Work Health & Safety Act 2011 Guide for the Prevention and Responding to Workplace Bullying 2013 (Safe Work Australia) All Policies, Procedures & Manuals are to be adhered to in accordance with Diocesan requirements. HARASSMENT & Page 8 of 8