Bullying, Discrimination, and Harassment

Policy

We expect all staff to support a working culture that is inclusive, safe, and respectful. We have a zero tolerance policy towards:

• bullying

  Examples of workplace bullying include:

  • any repeated intimidation, humiliation, or manipulation of another person
  • direct or indirect behaviour that undermines another person's position or confidence
  • aggressive, threatening, physical or verbal behaviour
  • implied or actual criticisms, false claims, or allegations
  • behaviour that causes physical or psychological harm.
• discrimination

  Discrimination may be any behaviour that is prejudiced or biased. It may result in a person being treated differently or excluded because of personal characteristics. For example:

  • age
  • gender identity
  • sexual orientation
  • disability
  • ethnicity or colour
  • physical status (such as health or pregnancy).
• harassment

  Workplace harassment may be physical or verbal forms of:

  • persistent attention that makes a person feel uncomfortable, annoyed, upset, or unsafe
  • repeated behaviour or commentary targeting characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, or disability.

  Sexual harassment shares these characteristics but may also be:

  • unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature
  • messages, images, or references to a person, of an inappropriate sexual nature.

All allegations will be taken seriously and investigated promptly, confidentially, and objectively.

See Employment NZ's guidance on Bullying, harassment, and discrimination.

Bullying, discrimination, or harassment may result in disciplinary action. Even if the person who was harmed doesn't wish to pursue a complaint at the time, practice management may feel it is serious enough to begin disciplinary action.

See also Disciplinary Process.

Raising concerns

If you think you have been the victim of bullying, discrimination or harassment, there are a number of ways you can respond to it:

• Directly, in person – speak or write to the person involved, but only if you are happy to do so.
• Informally – ask your manager/another manager to speak to the person involved.
• Formally – ask the practice manager to initiate a formal complaint process.

If the complaint can't be resolved within the practice, you may involve a trained mediator or contact the Human Rights Commission.

Ideally incidents can be resolved within the practice, but you can use external resources and agencies independently to raise a personal grievance or report harassment or bullying. Sexual harassment complaints can be made directly to the Human Rights Commission.

Keeping a record

However you choose to deal with an incident, it is important that you record specific details soon after the event.

Documenting the facts allows you to keep an accurate account for future use, and to log repeated incidents. It is also important that your manager or a mediator has sufficient information to approach a complaint in a way that's fair and impartial to everyone.

See also Confidentiality.