Purpose & Scope
Hireup is committed to providing an environment in which all users are free from harassment, bullying and discrimination.
This policy is a framework for complying with our legal obligations to prevent harassment (including sexual harassment), bullying and discrimination.
It is designed to educate all users on what behaviour is expected of them and all Hireup’s users during the course of providing or accessing support , as well as behaviour that will not be tolerated. Everyone involved in the workplace has health and safety duties.
This policy applies to all Support Workers, Clients, Account Managers, contractors, and any others present in the workplace (such as family members). This policy applies anytime a user is participating in the Hireup community, whether that’s attending a support shift, attending a work related event or function, interacting with the Hireup team or any user of Hireup, or interacting with other members of the Hireup community between support shifts. For the purposes of this policy, each of these scenarios is considered to be the “workplace”.
This policy is to be read in conjunction with Hireup’s Code of Conduct, the NDIS Code of Conduct and SafeWork’s Work health and safety guidance for NDIS participants.
Principles
We hold strong beliefs about how people should be treated and supported in the workplace and when accessing support through Hireup. This policy is an important instrument in supporting us to uphold these values by offering a set of guidelines about how to act, treat each other and conduct ourselves.
Hireup is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a safe, fair and enjoyable workplace for all.
All Hireup employees have a right to work in a safe and non-threatening environment. Hireup will not tolerate any unlawful harassment, bullying, discrimination or victimisation in the workplace, including during any Hireup booking, through the Hireup platform or during any work-related functions or events.
Hireup values workplace respect and dignity and strives to achieve a workplace where everyone is treated fairly and with courtesy, and this policy relies upon these values.
Anyone who observes or is otherwise aware of behaviour which they believe to be in breach of this policy is encouraged to report this through Hireup’s reporting processes. More information can be found in our incident report process.
When establishing if harassment, sexual harassment or bullying has occurred, it is based on how the behaviour was reasonably perceived by the person subjected to it (and not the intent of the person behaving in that manner), keeping in mind that a ‘reasonable person’ must have anticipated that the conduct would cause a person to be offended, humiliated or intimidated.
Application of choice and control
It is important for Hireup to uphold the NDIS’s crucial tenet of choice and control, which allows persons with disabilities to remain in charge of how their supports are to be provided. This policy does not intend to infringe on those values. For example, a female Client may only feel comfortable receiving support from a female Support Worker for personal care. This would be an exercise of choice and control and not in breach of this policy.
Legislative context:
Discrimination, bullying and any form of harassment is unacceptable at Hireup and is unlawful under the following legislation:
Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (Cth)
Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)
Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)
Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth)
WHS Act 2011 s19(1) Primary duty of care to
workers
WHS Act 2011 s19(2) Primary duty of care
to others
In December 2022, the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022 (Cth) amended the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), introducing a positive duty on employers to shift their focus to actively preventing workplace sex-based harassment and discrimination, rather than responding only after it occurs.
Table of Contents
Harassment
Sexual harassment
Bullying
Discrimination
Victimisation
Complaint Resolution
Disciplinary Action & Further Steps
1. Harassment
Harassment is against the law and is not acceptable. Workplace harassment may be an ongoing pattern of behaviour, or it may be just a single act. Harassment is any form of behaviour that:
Is unwanted
offends, humiliates or intimidates someone
creates a hostile environment.
Unlawful harassment at work occurs when a person is treated less favourably on the basis of certain personal characteristics. These characteristics may include race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, or marital status.
For example, a Client telling insulting jokes about their Support Worker’s race, or sending sexually suggestive emails or texts about or to their Support Worker may constitute unlawful harassment.
Disability harassment occurs when someone is harassed based on their disability or the disability of someone that they know, such as a family member or friend. This includes past disabilities, possible future disabilities, or assumed disabilities.
For example, a Support Worker making rude, abusive or insulting comments about the disability of a Client which may insult or humiliate that person.
2. Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is against the law. Hireup does not tolerate or accept sexual harassment and is committed to working towards eliminating all instances of sexual harassment in the workplace. We want to make our community feel safe and respected while using our platform and will take reports of this nature seriously.
The law defines sexual harassment as:
Sexual harassment occurs when:
a person makes an unwanted sexual advance or an unwelcome request for sexual favours to another person, or
engages in other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature towards another person,
in circumstances in which a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would have anticipated the possibility that the person harassed would be offended, humiliated or intimidated.
Other circumstances that may be taken into account include sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, relationship status, religion, race, or disability.
(Source: Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), section 28A; Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (Cth) section 22A
Sexual harassment does not have to be intended or occur repeatedly. It may be verbal, written, visual, psychological (emotional), physical or electronic in nature. Sexual harassment does not usually include genuine compliments or behaviour that is returned, welcomed and non-offensive to the individuals concerned.
Different people may have different ideas about what is considered harassment or sexual harassment. If a particular behaviour offends, humiliates or intimidates you and it relates to your sex, race, age or any of the listed elements, then it’s harassment regardless of other people’s perception or intention. Within reason, it is up to the individual to define what behaviour they find unacceptable. Hireup does not expect you to tolerate this behaviour.
2.1 Sexual Harassment Examples
Some general examples of sexual harassment can include:
unnecessary familiarity, such as deliberately brushing up against a person
intrusive questions about a person's private life or body;
suggestive comments or jokes;
unwanted invitations to go out on dates;
staring or leering;
sexually explicit emails or SMS text messages.
requests for sexual touching, masturbation or sex;
unwelcome touching.
Examples of specific scenarios that can be considered sexual harassment include:
a Support Worker inappropriately commenting on, alluding to, or asking about, the sex life of a Client;
a Client making suggestive or sexual comments towards a Support Worker on social media;
an Account Manager making suggestive or sexually explicit comments to a Support Worker about a Client over email or text message; or
a Support Worker making suggestive or sexual comments to a Client about that person’s relative, friend or associate.
A Client requesting a massage that involves touching of or near their groin region.
These examples may still be sexual harassment regardless of who commits the conduct.
All types of harassment may occur outside of shift times and are not limited to when a Support Worker is completing a support shift. It is important to note that behaviour that does not offend one person may offend another person. Just because someone does not object to sexual harassment, does not mean that behaviour is consensual or welcomed. Behaviour may be considered sexual harassment regardless of the perpetrator’s intent.
2.2 What is not sexual harassment
It is important to note that there may be circumstances where the behaviour of a Client will not be categorised as sexual harassment. Due to the nature of support work, Support Workers should remain aware that some disabilities will result in inadvertent sexualised behaviour, and in these circumstances such behaviour will not be considered sexual harassment.
There are instances where it is necessary for Hireup to distinguish between sexualised behaviour resulting from disability and sexual harassment. For example:
a Client made inappropriate verbal comments to a Support Worker, however was unaware of the inappropriate nature of the comments at the time. The Support Worker was not sure if this would be considered sexual harassment but still brought the matter to Hireup’s attention, which was the right thing to do. As a result, Hireup worked with the Client to discuss inappropriate language and requested that they update their support plan to inform Support Workers of the possibility of such comments, as well as how to approach and react to them. This was considered sexualised behaviour resulting from the Client’s s disability, and was not determined to be sexual harassment.
A non-verbal Client exhibiting sexualised behaviours such as masturbation in inappropriate environments. These behaviours are documented in their Behaviour Support Plan with strategies on how to manage this.
For clarity, even if the conduct is not sexual harassment, or if you’re unsure if the conduct constitutes sexual harassment, we encourage you to follow Hireup’s general reporting policy so that we can support you and ensure the safety of all Hireup users.
Relationships between Clients and Support Workers
The NDIS Code of Conduct prohibits Support Workers from engaging in sexual and/or intimate relationships with a Client:
Workers should set boundaries with the person with disability with whom they are
working by having conversations with the person about their role. If workers find the
nature of their relationship with the person they support changing, they have the
responsibility to bring this immediately to the attention of their NDIS provider.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (2023).
Failure to report this to Hireup may result in disciplinary action up to and including the immediate removal of your profile from the platform and subsequent termination of employment.
3. Bullying
Workplace bullying occurs when a worker or group of workers experiences repeated unreasonable behaviour while at work, which poses a risk to their health and safety. Similar conduct towards a Client can also be considered bullying. Hireup has a zero tolerance policy for bullying in any form.
Bullying of any form or for any reason can have immediate, medium and long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders. Generally speaking, bullying is an ongoing and intentional misuse of power in any type of relationship through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening. Bullying can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert). It can happen in many ways including in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices.
Single incidents and conflict between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying.
Examples of workplace bullying include:
a Support Worker making belittling or humiliating comments towards a Client;
a Client expecting an unreasonable amount or standard of work from a Support Worker, such as too much work or work that is difficult for the Support Worker to carry out;
a Client spreading rumours about their Support Worker; or
any intimidating or aggressive conduct between a Support Worker or Client.
A third party within the Client’s home makes repeated belittling comments towards a Support Worker
All of the above examples may be bullying, regardless of who commits the conduct.
These examples and other forms of bullying could also constitute a criminal offence.
3.1 What is not bullying
It is important to highlight that there may be circumstances where a certain behaviours do not constitute bullying including:
reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner, such as disciplinary action or performance management conducted by Hireup
mutual arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)
not liking someone or a single act of social rejection
one-off acts of meanness or spite
isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.
For clarity, even if the conduct is not bullying, we expect that you will follow Hireup’s general reporting policy so that we can investigate further.
4. Discrimination
Discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably than someone in the same circumstances because of a certain personal characteristic. These include, but are not limited to, the person’s disability, race, age, sex, sexual orientation and religion. Discrimination can be classified as either direct discrimination or indirect discrimination, and both are illegal.
Direct discrimination occurs when a person discriminates against another person on the ground of the certain personal characteristic. For example
a Support Worker making racial comments towards a Client based on their race would be direct discrimination.
A Client writing on a job post that they don’t wish to work with a particular race
Indirect discrimination occurs when a person is expected to meet an unreasonable requirement, condition or practise that they cannot meet due to a certain personal characteristic.
(See, for example, Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), sections 5-6)
Inherent requirements commentary
It may not be unlawful to refuse to employ a person if, because of a particular reason such as religion or disability, they are unable to carry out the inherent requirements (or essential duties) of the job.
The inherent requirements of a job will vary depending on what the job is. They may include:
the ability to perform tasks which are essential to perform a job productively and to the required quality
the ability to work effectively in a team or other organisation
the ability to work safely.
5. Victimisation
Victimisation is illegal and will not be tolerated by Hireup. Victimisation occurs when a person threatens or subjects another person to detrimental action because that person has made a complaint, helped someone else make a complaint, or otherwise been involved in the investigation or resolution of a complaint.
A Client exercising choice and control and choosing not to rebook a Support Worker may not constitute victimisation. Support Workers are also not guaranteed ongoing work with Hireup because they are hired as casual employees. This employment arrangement means that each booking is considered a separate period of employment without a commitment to continuous, ongoing, or further work.
6. Complaint Resolution
Hireup commits to taking complaints of harassment, bullying, discrimination and victimisation seriously and having them managed quickly, thoroughly and confidentially. For Hireup to take all reasonable steps to ensure that complaints are resolved there may be times in which the complaint will have to be addressed with the other involved parties Complaints will be handled as privately and confidentially as possible.
Generally, the steps taken to resolve a complaint are:
Confront the behaviour if you feel comfortable and safe to do so. Otherwise remove yourself from the source of harm Register a complaint to Hireup
- Hireup conduct a thorough investigation including any external reporting
Action - which may include disciplinary action, or even termination of employment or Service Agreement, if necessary.
The outcome of any complaint will be discussed with the complainant at the end of the investigation process. If the complainant is unhappy with an outcome, they may request that the complaint be escalated internally for review.
For a complete, in-depth explanation of Hireup’s complaint resolution process, please see our Statement on Complaints.
Hireup takes our responsibilities as an employer and service provider seriously. We are committed to the safety and wellbeing of our community. As part of our complaints resolution Hireup are committed to eliminating or minimising the risks associated with any substantiated allegations of harassment, bullying and discrimination as far as is reasonably practicable.
7. Disciplinary Action & Further Steps
Where a complaint is made and investigated and the allegations are found to be substantiated,, Hireup ensures to undertake and enforce the necessary disciplinary actions against any persons who have breached this policy. These consequences may include termination of employment or termination of the service agreement with Hireup. If appropriate, it may also include referring the matter to Police for potential criminal investigation or report the matter to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission
At Hireup, we value our commitment to eliminating harassment, bullying and discrimination, and this commitment extends beyond any complaint investigation. Hireup have mechanisms in place to continue to safeguard after an investigation is completed. This includes proactive monitoring of a person’s activities on the Hireup platform or internal or external referrals for additional support. Wider scale procedures may include routine culture surveys and reviews, updated policies or placing emphasis on company counselling services.