Health and safety watchdogs given protection
Victimisation of employees occurs when an employer subjects or threatens to subject an employee to any disadvantage because they act in a particular way. It is a major threat to equality and other rights in the workplace.
An important area of concern is where an employee is victimised for complaining about something considered unsafe or a risk to health in the workplace, or where they have carried out occupational health and safety consultations with other employees as required under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
In a recent case, a container transport company was found to have victimised a driver who complained about dangerous overloading.
The company had employed Mr P as a truck driver for about ten years. He was elected a union co-delegate and had been a shift supervisor for about five years. In a letter to his employer Mr P had outlined his concerns that the overfilling of sugar bins posed a threat to the safety to drivers and the public, because high loads made the bins more susceptible to wind disturbance at highway speeds.
He also complained that some harvesting crews were failing to use the levelling bars provided when stacking trucks with sugar cane – a task drivers had no input in and for which he emphasised that as a driver he should have no liability.
The company drivers signed a petition about the overloading of bins, to which Mr P was the first signatory. The next month the company announced that it had lost the contract to transport sugar from the mill, and staff were encouraged to apply for positions directly with the three local mills. Mr P subsequently received a low score from his company when it was asked for a reference check and failed to get one of the jobs on offer. The judge found that Mr P had been victimised and ordered the company to find him a job and pay him for lost remuneration.
On the appeal, the Commission considered the term ‘making a complaint’ and found that even expressing dissatisfaction about a workplace matter may amount to the making of a complaint, and workers must not be victimised for it.
Contact Blackwell Short Lawyers if you are in any doubt about your rights or liabilities concerning this article.