Hostile Work Environment

Harassment at workplace
By Group ALPHA

Zaki The Skipper

Adlan The Silencer
Azita The Blaster
Shahril The Oiler
Ali The Planter

Page 2
Legal Register on Harassment at Workplace

Law Number 39, 1999 on Human Rights;

Law Number 13, 2004 on Manpower;
Law Number 2, 2004 on Settlement of Industrial Relations Dispute;
Panel and Criminal Code Act 574 (Kanun Keseksaan);
Employment Act 1955 Amendment Apr 2012 Section 81A-81G (Sexual
Harassment)
Personal Data Protection Act 2010 Section 130 Unlawful Collecting
Personel Data
ILO Convention 100, 1951 on Equal Remuneration for Men and Women
Workers for Work of Equal Value, ratified by Law Number 80, 1957;
ILO Convention 111, 1958 on Discrimination in Respect of Employment
and Occupation, ratified by Law Number 21, 1999;
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), ratified by Law Number 7, 1984;

References on Harassment at Workplace

Page 3

Government of New South Wales. 1996. Harassment Free Workplace: Policy

and Guidelines.
Government of South Australia. 2012. Preventing Workplace Bullying: A
Practical Guide for Employers.
Government of South Australia. 2012. Dealing with Workplace Bullying: A
Practical Guide for Employers.
International Labour Organization. 2011. Equality and Non-discrimination at
Work in East and South-East Asia.
International Labour Organization. 2011. Guidelines on Sexual Harassment
Prevention at the Workplace.
International Labour Organization. 2011. Solve: Integrating Health Promotion
into Workplace OSH Policies, Trainers Guide.
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. 2011., Workplace
Bullying and Disruptive Behavior: What Everyone Needs to Know (2011).
Queensland Government. 2010. Workplace Harassment: Human Resources
Policy.

Page 4

Overview on the scenario

A Senior Staff at workplace behaviour:
Attention

Seeker

Irrational
Like

to look down on others

Bully
Cannot control his anger
Use to raise his voice when angry
Viral his email to hurt others/victim
feeling
Post poison Letter to tarnish victim image.

Harassment Law

Page 5

Harassment is a form of illegal discrimination.

Harassment

claims are premised on

mistreatment due to the protected status of the
complainant e.g., race, religion, sex, age,
disability, national origin, or any other status
protected by law against discrimination.
State and local laws often protect
characteristics not covered by federal law e.g.,
sexual orientation, marital status.
The same legal framework applies to any
harassment complaint, with some additional issues
arising in sexual harassment claims.

Hostile Work Environment

Page 6

An illegal hostile work environment consists of:

unwelcome
verbal or physical conduct
of a sexual nature or based on a protected status
that is sufficiently severe or pervasive that it
creates a hostile or offensive working
environment (alters the terms and conditions of
employment)
for a reasonable person of the same
characteristics of the complainant.

The Perspective of the Victim

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The hostile work environment test includes both a

subjective and an objective element a
ceiling and a floor for liability:

The conduct must be subjectively unwelcome to the

complainant;
The conduct must be considered unwelcome by a
reasonable person in the victims shoes;
Persons overhearing or observing interactions can
claim harassment be aware of your unintended
audience.
The intent of the harasser is not determinative.

Page 8

Sexual Harassment

Both men and women are legally protected

from sexual harassment;
Same-sex harassment is illegal if it is
motivated by the victims gender;
Sexual harassment can be sexual in content
(e.g., sexual advances, touching, sexual
comments) or can be free of sexual content but
motivated by gender (e.g., male supervisor
who bullies women harshly but not men).

Ref: Employment Act 1955 Amended Apr 2012 Section 81A

81G (Sexual Harassment)

Bullying

Page 9

4 categories of bullies :
CATEGORY

DESCRIPTION

The screaming
mimi

Control other workers emotion by

expressing anger (screaming, yelling,
cursing, throwing things)

The constant
critic

Insult others while criticize them (uttering

mean comments etc)

The two-headed
snake

High ranking in the organization

Enjoy manipulating people below him/her
(deny necessary resources to work with,
turning employees against each other,
assign meaningless job)

The gatekeeper

Obsessed with control

Allocates times, money and evidence of
information to ensure others failure
Greenberg
(2011) and Namie (2003)
Use this as a reason forRef:
poor
company
performances

Workplace bullying in Malaysia :

Statistics

Page 10

Ref : Talib and Arif(2014)

Retaliation

Page 11

Employment laws protect employees from

reprisal for raising or communicating an intent
to raise an internal or external complaint of
unlawful treatment.
Internal complaints are protected if made in
good faith, even if mistaken.
Filing or assisting another in filing a charge
with the government is fully protected.
Participating in an investigation or other
opposition to unlawful conduct is also
protected, if done in a reasonable fashion.

Basic Prevention Steps

1.
2.
3.

4.

Page 12

Adopt and publicize policies against

harassment and retaliation.
Adopt and use a complaint procedure, with
multiple reporting options.
Mandate that supervisors inform Human
Resources of reported or witnessed incidents of
harassment or discrimination.
Train all employees about harassment and
discrimination law and about your policies and
complaint procedures.

When a Complaint is Made

1.
2.

3.

4.

Page 13

Promptly investigate all complaints, even if

the alleged victim has left the organization.
Decide who should conduct the
investigation: Human Resources, the General
Counsel, outside counsel?
Document all interviews and have interviewed
employees review and attest to the accuracy of
summary. Consider having a witness take notes.
Keep allegations confidential to the extent
practicable but never promise absolute
confidentiality.

When a Complaint is Made, contd

5.

6.
7.
8.

Page 14

Preserve and review all relevant records (e.g.,

appraisals, e-mails), as federal law requires
preservation of evidence relevant to a
potential claim of which you have notice.
Take appropriate corrective action, if
wrongdoing is found.
Document findings.
Ensure independent review of all
subsequent personnel actions involving
complainant to ward against retaliation.

Special Issues: Volunteers

Page 15

Employers have a duty to protect their

employees from a hostile work environment,
even if that environment is caused by nonemployees whom they encounter on the job
(e.g., vendors, members, volunteer officers).

Liability issue is a negligence standard: did

the organization take reasonable measures to
prevent and correct harassment?

Organization must be willing to confront

offender, even if it impacts organizations
bottom line customer preference no defense
for tolerating harassment or discrimination.

Special Issues: Volunteers, contd

Page 16

Be aware of high risk situations for

employees: conferences often involve alcohol,
overnight stays, relaxed business attitudes.
Institute and enforce conduct guidelines
for attendees and volunteers.
Empower your employees to move away
from or say no to uncomfortable situations.
Train Board members and officers on
harassment policy: because they have
authority in the organization, their conduct is
viewed differently than lower status individuals.

Page 17
Special Issues:
Responding to Claims Against Leadership

Adopt a whistleblower policy with outside

reporting mechanism (Board committee,
external hotline, outside counsel).
Outside investigation is critical so results
wont appear tainted.
Ensure executive employment contracts have
termination for cause provisions that
include violations of organization policy.

How do

WE

stop disrespectful
behavior?

Page 18

Page 19

Examples

Source: http://intranet.csiro.au/intranet/hr/policy/eo/harass/detExamples.asp

S
T
O
P

Page 20

Source
T
O
P

Page 21

The source of the disrespectful

behavior has the responsibility
to stop behaving in such a manner.

What about us? Are we part of

the problem? Have we added to
the disrespectful behavior?

S
Target
O
P

Page 22

The target must help confront the

Harassment/harasser!

If we are offended by others

actions or words, we need to let
them know and ask them to stop.

Consider this:

S
Target
O
P

Page 23

The source of the disrespectful

behavior may not even know that
his or her behavior is offensive to us.

How can this person correct his

or
her behavior if he or she is
unaware of its impact?

Those who observe disrespectful or

harassing behavior have a
responsibility to stop it when it
occurs; and one who
notices such is NEVER an innocent
bystander!

S
T
Observer
P

Page 24

ItItisissimply
simplythe
theright
rightthing
thingto
todo.
do.

S
T
O
Person in authority

Page 25

Every person in authority has a duty

to keep the workplace free from
offensive and harassing behavior.
Each person in authority is crucial
to creating a respectful workplace.

Source
Target
Observer
Person in authority

Page 26

Gentle advice from Group Alpha

Page 27

Care about WHAT you say

HOW you say it--

Before you say it!

Page 28

Questions?