Sexual Harassment Tops Employment Complaints
May 2006
Sexual harassment tops the list of employment discrimination complaints and enquiries received by the Human Rights Commission in 2005.
The following statistics relate to complaints received by the Human Rights Commission. In 2005, the Commission received 601 complaints and enquiries relating to unlawful discrimination in the area of employment. A total of 572 of these can be broken down as follows against the grounds listed as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Human Rights Act:
It is important to note that the total count for grounds of complaint do not necessarily total with the number of complaints received for the period. This is because any one complaint can be made on two or more grounds.
Of those 601 matters, a significant number are resolved at or close to the first point of contact. A large number of complaints that come to the Human Rights Commission can be settled very quickly in ways such as providing people with information about what constitutes unlawful discrimination under the Human Rights Act.
The Commission also works with employers to make sure that they have the information they need to prevent work-related complaints occurring in the first instance. Complaints can be costly in terms of time, productivity and reduced staff morale. To assist employers, advice and information can be provided by HRC in a range of areas, such as how to establish Codes of Conduct, or putting in place an internal complaint process. For smaller organisations, HRC's help might simply mean providing posters to place around the workplace that clearly state that discrimination is unlawful.
While this early and ‘low level’ resolution is obviously a positive outcome, it is not reflected in the 88 outcomes listed below which relate to those matters progressed more comprehensively by the Human Rights Commission's Disputes Resolution Service. A breakdown of the outcomes of these complaints shows:
The following chart is a breakdown of the outcomes:
In the following complaints a closer assessment demonstrated that the dispute resolution process was either unnecessary or not the best way to progress these complaints.
Some complaints are progressed to different degrees before a decision is made to take no further action. This ranges from speaking to the parties to find out more about the complaint right through to attempting mediation or using other dispute resolution initiatives as indicated in following chart:
22 complaints were resolved or partially resolved. The following chart indicates the outcomes of these complaints:
For further information about these statistics, please contact Gemma Barden
