A Werribee medical hub has been fined $60,000 after a worker was subjected to 18 months of bullying by a senior staff member.
Wyndham Clinic was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday last week, after pleading guilty on September 27 to one charge of failing to provide and maintain, as far as was reasonably practicable, systems of work that were safe and without risks to health.
The company was also ordered to pay costs of $19,630.
The court heard that the worker was bullied by Wyndham Clinic’s chief executive Peter Bailey from September, 2014, until she resigned in March, 2016.
The bullying behaviour included verbal abuse such as yelling and swearing, telling the worker to look for another job and that other people in the office did not like her.
A WorkSafe investigation found that Wyndham Clinic had neither policies and procedures to specifically address bullying, nor did it have a system in place to report bullying behaviour.
The court heard the bullying and the clinic’s failure to address it left the worker feeling hurt, humiliated, fearful and worthless.
WorkSafe’s executive director of health and safety Andrew Keen said that bullying behaviour could have lasting impacts on workers and entire workplaces.
“Workplace bullying can devastate individuals and their families and put whole workplaces under stress,” Mr Keen said.
“All workers deserve to go to work without fear of being bullied or harassed and all employers have a clear responsibility to protect workers from risks to their physical and mental health, including from this sort of abhorrent behaviour.”
If you are concerned about issues in the workplace, contact WorkSafe on 1800 136 089 or see www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/
