Anthea Lowe & Associates

Fair and Respectful Workplace Behaviour, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Diversity, Discrimination Prevention, Bullying and Harassment Prevention and Grievance Management

An Australian Workplace Consultancy

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*    How I can help you

 
*    My experience, skills and achievements

*    Are you as well protected as you should be?

*    Are you a good people manager or supervisor?

*    Contact Information                                                               

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How I can help you

*       Group and ‘one on one’ practical, dynamic, interactive, customised, skills-based training and coaching programs – for all levels of management and staff – in any Australian State or Territory - on:

*       Respectful behaviour – How to prevent and deal effectively with any bullying or harassment

*       Fair and respectful behaviour – How to prevent and deal effectively with any favouritism, discrimination, bullying or harassment

*       Grievance management – for staff appointed to provide the first point of contact or advice and for those charged with resolving grievances

*       Effective, fair and non-discriminatory customer service, and

*       Similar topics.

*       Conference and seminar workshops and presentations – in any Australian State or Territory - on the same or similar topics.

*       Grievance investigations and resolutions

*       Development and writing of tailor-made, ‘best practice’, practical policies and procedures – on diversity, equal employment opportunity (EEO) and discrimination prevention; bullying and harassment prevention; fair and respectful workplace behaviour; fair and non-discriminatory service delivery; grievance management; counselling and discipline; and other similar topics.

*       Development and writing of customised, skills-based training packages and associated train the trainer programs for your trainers – on the same or similar topics.

*       Advice, ‘expert opinions’ and practical assistance in relation to promoting diversity and EEO; preventing favouritism, discrimination, bullying or harassment; grievance management; and similar topics.

*       Facilitation of staff consultations.

 

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My experience, skills and achievements

*       Anthea Lowe has a 30 year record of achievements in equal opportunity and people management in both Australia and the UK.

*       She established her workplace consultancy in early 2001.  Since then she has worked for 94 different private, public and community sector organisations throughout Australia.  A significant percentage of these organisations are long-term clients. 

*       She has:

*          Conducted practical training programs, workshops and conference presentations - in bullying and harassment prevention; diversity, EEO and non-discriminatory decision-making; fair and non-discriminatory service delivery; and grievance management - for senior executives; partners; human resources managers; other line managers; non-supervisory staff; contact officers; and union delegates.

*          Investigated and facilitated the resolution of complex and/or serious workplace grievances.

*          Written tailor-made, ‘best practice’, practical policies and procedures – on EEO and discrimination prevention; bullying and harassment prevention; fair and non-discriminatory service delivery (including writing the first edition of the ‘Equal Treatment before the Law Bench Book’ for NSW judicial officers, which won an Australasian Institute for Judicial Administration award for excellence – see http://www.jc.nsw.gov.au/benchbks/equality/); grievance handling; and counselling and discipline.

*          Provided detailed comments on how to improve EEO-related policies and procedures and associated training modules.

*          Provided expert witness opinions for lawyers in relation to negligence claims for alleged bullying and harassment.

*          Advised HR and other senior managers on, for example, how best to reasonably accommodate the needs of particular employees; how best to prevent bullying and harassment; how to ensure their line managers are able and willing to prevent discrimination, take non-discriminatory decisions and intervene appropriately in potentially unfair, bullying and/or harassing situations; how to design an effective and fair grievance management system; how to handle a particular grievance or potential grievance.

*          Produced customised, skills-based EEO and bullying/harassment prevention training packages for use by internal trainers and conducted associated train the trainer programs.

*          Run awareness and practical behaviour modification sessions for individuals found to have been involved in discrimination, harassment or bullying to help ensure they do not re-offend.

*          Conducted or provided advice on EEO and bullying/harassment-related staff consultations and surveys.

*       Anthea would be delighted to supply you with referees for any of the above.

 

*       In June 2001, Anthea wrote, published and marketed the first, practical set of guidelines for Australian employers on the prevention of workplace bullying and harassment.  These have been used by organisations throughout Australia. 

*       Following the publication of these guidelines, Anthea was commissioned to write the harassment and bullying prevention chapter in the first three editions of the Australian Master Human Resources Guide published by CCH (2002 to 2004/05) and the bullying prevention chapter in the fourth to seventh editions (2006 to 2009).

*       In 2003, Anthea was appointed as a non-judicial member of the Equal Opportunity Division of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal. This means she hears and decides cases of discrimination and harassment that have not been able to be settled by the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW.  She is a member of both the NSW Equal Employment Opportunity Practitioners’ Association and the Australian Human Resources Institute. 

*       Before establishing her consultancy, Anthea was the Manager, Education Services at the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW.  Anthea was regarded as a dynamic and inspirational people manager and leader.  She expanded her team from 4 to almost 20, by, among other things, initiating and developing a highly successful commercial unit providing EEO-related consultancy, training and publications. 

*       Anthea wrote most of the Board’s practical, ‘plain English’ publications. The workplace guidelines series she wrote received an excellent review in HR Monthly, March 1999 and was also commercially licensed to the Equal Opportunity Commission, Victoria.

*       Frequently requested as a dynamic presenter by EEO and HR conference organisers, Anthea developed and then managed the training programs still used by the Board, and conducted and managed longer-term consultancy projects for both private and public sector clients.

*       Before working at the Board, Anthea researched and wrote a series of publications for the NSW Cancer Council; and spent 2 years developing the Immigration Advice and Rights Community Legal Centre. 

*       For several years in London, UK, Anthea managed the team that produced a comprehensive, integrated, practical social welfare advice and information system, distributed monthly to several hundred street-front Citizens Advice Bureaux.  Anthea’s first book, the practical Ins and Outs of Immigration Law was published in London in 1983. 

 

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Are you as well protected as you should be?

*       There are many Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory laws that deal with issues related to EEO, discrimination, bullying and harassment.  The most commonly used laws divide into the following categories:

*          Equal opportunity/Anti-discrimination

*          Industrial relations/Fair work/Breach of employment contract/Trade practices

*          Occupational health and safety and Workers’ compensation

*          Criminal

*          Common – for example, negligence claims.

 

*       Under each of these categories of law, the general rule is that your organisation/employer will be legally liable for any discrimination, harassment or bullying that is committed by any employee that breaks any one or more of these laws – UNLESS your organisation/employer has taken “all reasonable steps” or done everything “reasonably practicable”, to:

*          Prevent the discrimination, harassment, or bullying from happening in the first place, and

*          Resolve, fairly and appropriately, any alleged discrimination, harassment or bullying that is suspected or known by any line manager or appointed grievance adviser or resolver.

 

*       Checklist for senior managers, HR managers and employers - © Anthea Lowe & Associates

These days, Australian courts, tribunals and commissions are saying that - at an absolute minimum – you MUST:

 

1.         Have clear, written policies and procedures that explain precisely what you expect of your employees in relation to both their decision-making, and their behaviour towards each other and your customers or clients 

*          Do these policies list the particular and more onerous responsibilities of your line managers?

*          Does your bullying and harassment policy include electronic bullying and harassment? 

*          And does it cover all forms of harassment and bullying as opposed to only those forms that are against anti-discrimination law? 

*          Do both these policies adequately cover your employees’ relationships with your customers, clients and anyone else they have to interact with in the course of their work?

*          Do both these policies adequately cover your employees’ behaviour at all points the employer could be held legally liable for their behaviour – including when at work functions off-site or out of hours and when on work business overnight?

 

2.            Have a clear, written, trusted, fair and followed grievance procedure, backed by a fair, appropriate and followed counselling and discipline procedure. 

*          Do your grievance and counselling and discipline procedures contain sufficient step-by-step detail and guidance to encourage trust in their use?

*          Are there sufficient routes through your grievance procedure to encourage people to come forward?

*          Do your procedures follow the rules of ‘procedural fairness’?

*          Do they contain sufficient detail and guidance to ensure that all those implementing them follow precisely the same and scrupulously fair procedures and decisions for similar levels of work problems and grievances?  In other words, would both the process and the outcome of every grievance stand up to external legal scrutiny?

*          Do they make it clear that there are times when the complainant’s wishes cannot and will not be followed?

*          Do you have appropriate record-keeping rules written into your procedures?  

 

3.            Distribute these policies and procedures to every one of your employees, including new ones.

*          Does every employee have copies of all these policies and procedures or know exactly where they can find them?  Or, are they in a few employees’ offices or filing cabinets only, or available only to those who have access to your computer system?

*          Do new employees get them as part of their induction?

 

4.            Make sure all your employees can understand all these policies and procedures and that they have the knowledge and skills to follow them.  In particular, make sure all your line managers are actively promoting and ‘holding the line’ about what is and is not acceptable behaviour.  This means actively skills-training all employees, at regular intervals. 

*          When was the last time you trained your line managers let alone your non-supervisory staff in these matters? 

*          Can you be sure every one of them knows exactly what is expected of them in relation to fair and respectful behaviour, grievance management and counselling and discipline?

*          Can you be sure they have both the willingness and the skills to implement your expectations? 

*          For example, are all your line managers actively and appropriately intervening whenever they suspect, see, hear or are told about any discrimination, harassment or bullying, or about any behaviour that risks a possible claim of discrimination, bullying or harassment?  Or, are they leaving your organisation legally liable for discriminatory, harassing or bullying behaviour that someone in ‘management’ suspected or knew about or should have stopped earlier?

 

*          If you don’t have all of this in place, not only are you leaving your organisation open to valid and costly legal challenges, but also your organisation is not getting the best out of its employees. 

 

*          You are almost certainly experiencing most if not every one of the following:

*          Absenteeism by those being discriminated against, bullied or harassed

*          Increased work error rate

*          Increased work accident rate, greater than necessary injury/stress claims and associated rehabilitation costs and likely increase in your workers’ compensation premium

*          Low morale

*          Decreased productivity

*          Decrease in the quality of work

*          Sabotage or other forms of aggressive or destructive behaviour

*          Loss of reputation/public image

*          Unnecessary resignations

*          Wrong employees being appointed, trained and/or promoted, and the best ones being lost/missed

*          Breakdowns in communication ability and trust

*          Industrial problems

*          Internal grievances and external legal challenges.  These could be costing you anywhere between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars.  I know of one organisation that has spent well over a million dollars on internal and external challenges related to just one claim of sexual harassment.

*          How much longer can you afford this?   Click here for how I can help.

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Are you a good line manager?

*    Do you follow the 12 points in the checklist below? 

*    Does every one of your line managers follow all these points?

*    Line managers are only likely to be good people managers if they follow most if not all these points.  If they don’t follow them it is likely they are not good people managers, are regarded as poor people managers or even bullies and are experiencing the problems listed in the previous section ‘Are you as well protected as you should be?’

 

*    Checklist for line managers - © Anthea Lowe & Associates

1.         I tell all my staff (including new ones) about discrimination, harassment and bullying – their rights and responsibilities.

2.         I am a good role model - I make fair, non-discriminatory decisions, and I never manage anyone using any form of bullying or harassment.

3.         I am outcomes-focused and so I am flexible about precisely when, how and where work is done – for example, I do my utmost to accommodate disability-related, religious and family/home needs.

4.         I explain the rationale behind all my decisions to those affected by them and I can justify every one of my decisions as a fair decision.

5.         I do not tolerate unfair, harassing or bullying behaviour or any behaviour that risks a complaint of discrimination, harassment or bullying.

6.         I make sure the workplace is free of all forms of stereotyping and potentially offensive material.

7.         I make sure it is difficult for discrimination, harassment and bullying to happen by analysing and then actively reducing the risk of any such behaviour.

8.         I follow up any behaviour changes that could indicate discrimination, harassment or bullying are going on.

9.         I make sure all staff in my team feel able to come to me (or, if necessary, another manager, supervisor, team leader or grievance adviser) with any work-related problem.

10.     I try to solve rather than bury all work/people management problems – fairly and speedily.

11.     I act immediately if I suspect, see, hear, or am told about any discrimination, harassment or bullying, or about any behaviour that risks a complaint of discrimination, harassment or bullying.

12.     I seek confidential advice about discrimination, harassment or bullying prevention and/or resolution, as necessary.

 

*   Click here for how I can help you/all your line managers follow all the above points.

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Tip of the month

 

Recruitment and selection

*       For the best chance of getting the best possible person for each job and of not breaking any law, your recruitment and selection processes must not allow personal stereotypes, biases, prejudices or comfort levels to get in the way. 

*       You need effective, merit-based and legally valid processes – processes that actively encourage you to make assessments that are as objective and accurate as possible.   

*       Why?  Because, recruiting the wrong person is very expensive:

*       Human Resources and recruitment specialists reckon that it costs anything between 85% and 100% of a person’s annual salary to replace them. 

*       Add the costs of having the wrong person in the job for as long as they are in it - from such things as lowered productivity, dissatisfied or lost customers/clients, and the dissatisfaction of other employees. 

*       Add the costs and disruption of having to ensure the wrongly appointed person leaves your organisation or is shifted to a more appropriate job plus the costs of any related legal claims they might make. 

*       And finally add the possible costs of people who did not get the job making discrimination claims against you. 

*       And you have a very expensive mistake indeed. 

*       Unfortunately, it is very easy to recruit the wrong person.  Unless properly trained and advised we can easily:

*       Judge applicants against the wrong selection criteria.

*       Decide who we are and are not interested in far too early in the selection process.

*       Decide on the basis of ‘gut feeling’ rather than fully and objectively checking out the individuals concerned.

*       Rely far too heavily on an interview as the means of selection – this means that we are likely to appoint the person who is best at telling us they are good at the job rather than the one who will be best at doing the job.

*       Rely far too heavily on the opinions of referees – who may be either under-selling or over-selling. 

*       Each one of these common recruitment and selection tendencies is likely to severely reduce the chances of employing the best person for the job and could also result in valid discrimination or other legal claims. 

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Previous tips of the month

 

1.   Bullying and harassment prevention

 

*       A bullying or harassing line manager, non-supervisory employee, client or customer will never be so important that they are worth more to your organisation than the damage they are causing.

 

*       It is legally, ethically and financially negligent for employers and line managers not to do everything they can to prevent bullying and harassment.  You MUST:

*       Make it difficult for bullies and harassers to operate, and

*       Deal appropriately with people proven to have bullied or harassed, and if necessary, dismiss and/or stop doing business with those who can’t be stopped or who have committed very serious acts of bullying or harassment. 

 

*       Do your staff understand that any behaviour that unfairly or unreasonably puts down, belittles, undermines, controls, scares, intimidates, excludes, offends or embarrasses anyone it’s directed at, or anyone who sees or hears it, is bullying and/or harassment? 

 

*       Do your staff know where to ‘draw the line’ between acceptable and non-acceptable, risky and potentially unlawful behaviour?  Do they understand the need to behave professionally and with respect at all times even when they don’t like someone or that person has treated them in an unfair, harassing or bullying manner? 

 

*       Do they follow the 5 ‘Rules of Respect’? - © Anthea Lowe & Associates: 

*       Treat others like you’d like to be treated

*       Know your audience – know who is comfortable with what

*       Be particularly careful if it could be seen as sexual, personally invasive, racist, sexist, anti-gay, or stereotyping in any other way

*       Be careful of repetition - know when they’ve had enough

*       If someone indicates they don’t like what you’re doing - stop doing it, say you didn’t mean to hurt or upset them, apologise for any hurt or upset you may have caused, don’t do it again in front of or to them, and don’t talk about them in a negative way.

 

2.   Appointing and developing good line managers

*       Team leaders, supervisors or managers who have been appointed on the basis of their technical skills without any objective assessment of their people management skills could well be causing you more trouble than they are worth. 

*       Line managers who are poor people managers are likely to:

*       Make poor and potentially discriminatory decisions

*       Bully or harass one or more of their team – sometimes without meaning to, and

*       Allow their team members to discriminate, harass and/or bully.

 

*       To avoid this you may need to do each of the following - © Anthea Lowe & Associates:   

1.         Develop a series of core competencies/performance assessment criteria for people supervision.

2.         Appoint new line managers only if they have good people management skills or the makings of them.

3.         Develop ways of specifically testing for people management skills during recruitment/selection processes, and of getting honest information about past supervisory experience.

4.         Regularly assess line managers against your people supervision core competencies.

5.         Provide professional and practical people management training and development for existing line managers.

6.         Not reward, in any way, any line manager whom you know or suspect achieves their results through discrimination, bullying or harassment.

7.         Closely monitor, and if necessary, fairly investigate any line manager whom you have good reason to suspect uses discriminatory, bullying or harassing tactics.

8.         Discipline and if necessary dismiss any line manager who achieves their results through discrimination, bullying or harassment. 

9.         Consider establishing team/staff-nominated awards for the best people manager in any period.

 

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3.   Fair and non-discriminatory decision-making

 

*       Every people management decision made by every single one of your line managers must be fair and non-discriminatory and also be seen to be fair and non-discriminatory by those it affects - if you want to avoid legal claims and the costly problems listed under point 4 of the ‘Checklist for senior managers’ above.

 

*       At the very least, every line manager needs to work out who won’t like the particular decision before they finalise it and then work out whether they can rationalise it to those who won’t like it.  If they are not sure they can rationalise it they probably need to think again.  If they are sure they can rationalise it they should then make sure they do rationalise it to all those it affects and particularly to those who may not like it.

 

*       Here are 7 points every one of your line managers should follow when making decisions that affect the people they manage or supervise - © Anthea Lowe & Associates:

1.         Follow the organisation’s policies and be consistentunless doing so turns out to be discriminatory.

2.         Consult with stakeholders and/or take advice - whenever appropriate. 

3.         No favouritism, no direct discrimination (false assumptions or stereotyped thinking), no indirect discrimination (unfair and unreasonable outcome despite the same rule or requirement being applied to all).

4.         Accommodate individual needs in relation to part-time, carer’s responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, disability, illness and so on - whenever possible.

5.         Have fair, non-discriminatory and rational work reasons - decide on the basis of properly assessed merit, or turn and turn about, or in some other fair manner.  The client is NOT always right.

6.         Always give reasons for the decision – particularly to those who may not like the decision.

7.         Be approachable and be prepared to change the decision - if it turns out to be unfair.

 

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4.   Staff complaints procedures

 

*       To be reasonably sure of standing up in courts, tribunals and commissions, your written staff complaints or grievance procedure must - © Anthea Lowe & Associates:

1.         Be easy to understand.

2.         Detail the step by step process by which grievances will be handled.

3.         Contain specific, but realistic, time limits for each stage of the process.

4.         Specifically ensure that all grievances will be handled in line with ‘procedural fairness’ principles - that is, with impartiality, fairness, confidentiality, and appropriate protection from victimisation (payback action), and with full provision for all parties to have access to support and/or representation as desired/necessary.

5.         Give a choice of people to come forward to (so that everyone feels comfortable enough to do so) – for advice, for advocacy, and for resolution.  Naturally, those given the job of resolving grievances must have sufficient power, knowledge and skills to do so.

6.         Explain the manner by which grievances will be resolved – that is, from conciliation/mediation to investigation and/or discipline, as dependent on the seriousness of the allegation. Note that it will never be appropriate to conciliate/mediate something that ought, if proven, to be disciplined.  Nor will it always be appropriate (ie. lawful) to provide the type of process that the complainant wants.  Nor will it always be appropriate (ie. lawful) to follow a complainant’s wishes for no action to be taken.

7.         List the types of resolutions to expect, (for example, from apology to written warning to demotion to dismissal), and that resolution will be imposed fairly and consistently across the organisation, in line with the nature of the policy breach (as proven on the ‘balance of probabilities’), any mitigating circumstances and any previous proven offences (and, therefore, not necessarily in line with the complainant’s wishes).

8.         Explain that confidential records will be kept of all incidents - in a central file if no discipline is imposed, and on the personal file, as well, of anyone who is disciplined.

9.         Provide for an internal appeal system, wherever practical.

10.     Give details of external avenues of help and appeal/review.

11.      Provide much more detailed, step-by-step, written guidance for those whose job it is to provide advice or support, and/or resolve grievances.

12.      Be followed – this almost certainly means providing training and/or extensive ‘hand holding’ advice and support from Human Resources to those charged with advising on or resolving grievances, as well as written guidance.

 

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5.   Flexibility is vital

 

*       How rigid and inflexible are your work systems, practices and rules?

 

*       If you want to get the most out of each of your employees, encourage a diverse and therefore a more responsive and creative workforce and prevent costly direct and indirect discrimination (and/or other legal) claims, your systems, practices and rules need to be as flexible as possible. 

 

*       For example:

*       Are your hours of work and/or rosters so tight that you are disadvantaging or losing those with carer’s responsibilities, some people with disabilities, and others who might prefer some flexibility to better balance their work with their home, community, religious and other non-work activities?

*       Are you inclusive of all types of living arrangements?  Or are employees who do not have or live with a heterosexual partner/any partner/any children, or who live in broader family or other groupings, missing out on the benefits, flexibility, leave arrangements, and so on, that you give to those who have or live with their heterosexual partner and/or children? 

*       Do you insist that specific jobs must be worked full-time or not at all, and therefore lose the benefit of employing some great part-time or job-share workers? 

*       How flexible are you about your employees’ or potential employees’ religious or cultural requirements?

*       Do you equate ability to do the job with how long someone has been doing it – that is, by insisting on x numbers of years experience?  Or do you equate ability to do the job with how good they are or will be at it – that is, by checking for past successes and actively skills testing for ability?

*       Do you equate good performance with how many hours someone puts in and/or with how much time they spend at work site(s)?  Or do you measure performance by what they actually achieve?

*       Must certain tasks always be performed in the same way?  Or are you flexible about approach as long as you get the outcomes you need?

*       Do you have ‘group think’?  Are you surrounded by ‘yes’ women and men?  Or do you actively solicit different and perhaps more creative ideas and approaches so as to get the best outcomes? 

*       When was the last time you employed someone quite different from the rest of the team?  Does your insistence on ‘team fit’ mean that you are discriminating against people who are in some way different?  Are you losing out on the skills and abilities of people from differing backgrounds?  Or are you achieving better results by actively promoting, employing, valuing and supporting diversity?

 

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6.  How to avoid being seen as a bullying or harassing manager

Your line managers need to understand how to behave to avoid being (seen as) a bullying or harassing manager.  Are they following the behaviours in the left hand column?  Or are they indulging in some or all of the behaviours in the right-hand column?

 

§         Show respect - always

§         Clear and reasonable work/service-delivery plans, priorities and goals

§         Fair and reasonable work/task allocation – not too much and not too little

§         Fair and appropriate instructions

§         Fair and appropriate performance/behaviour management

§         Reasonable and fair level of supervision

§         Speedy and fair attention to staff requests for such things as leave, training, travel away from area/office, special treatment……

§         Appropriate level of consultation

§         Honesty and openness

×         No favouritism

×         No threats

×         No shouting, swearing or other forms of abusive, aggressive or threatening behaviour

×         No sarcasm

×         No sexual, personally invasive, sexist, racist, anti-gay, etc. language or suggestions

×         No undermining

×         No public criticism of staff

×         No abuse of their authority

 

              © Anthea Lowe & Associates

 

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Contact Information

*       Ph. Sydney, Australia – 0425 200 511

*       Fax – Sydney, Australia – (02) 9368 1716

*       E-mail – anthealowe@gmail.com

*       Mailing address - PO Box 1187, Potts Point, NSW 2011, Australia

 

Useful organisations

Anti-Discrimination Board of NSWhttp://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/adb/ll_adb.nsf/pages/adb_index

Australian Human Rights Commission http://www.humanrights.gov.au/info_for_employers/; and http://www.humanrights.gov.au/legal/FDL/index.html

National Anti-Discrimination gateway - http://www.antidiscrimination.gov.au/

Institute for Cultural Diversity - http://www.culturaldiversity.net.au/
Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency – http://www.eowa.gov.au

Equal Opportunity in Public Employment (NSW)http://www.eeo.nsw.gov.au/

Office of Industrial Relations (NSW) – http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/

Fair Work Australia - http://www.fwa.gov.au/

Fair Work Ombudsman - http://www.fwo.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Workcover NSW – http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/default.htm

Comcare - http://www.comcare.gov.au/about_us

NSW Equal Opportunity Practitioners Association – http://www.neeopa.org

Flexibility at Work – http://www.flexibility.com.au/

 

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This website was last revised on 12 January 2010