FORMER reporter Christine Spiteri will also sue her former employer for unlawful discrimination in the Federal Court Action against Channel 9.

She is already seeking damages of more than $500,000 in relation to breach of contract and Trade Practices Act claims.

Nine has applied to have the case thrown out

In her statement of claim, Spiteri alleges Nine's news director John Westacott told her: "You should work for SBS, you certainly have the name for it."

She also alleged Mr Westacott told female journalists: "To make it in this industry, you gotta have fability. To make it in this game, women have to be fable."

In todays’ economic climate, Private Hospitals are experiencing increasing Financial Restraint & restructuring as well as an increasingly diverse and complex workforce.

Often these changes translate into tension in staff relations.

Bullying & Harassment in the workplace can result in reduced productivity, decreased motivation, absenteeism and loss of experienced staff.

Reported incidents and Issues related to Workplace Bullying, Harassment & discrimination in Australias’ Private Hospital system can mean the industry has the potential to become increasingly vulnerable to legal claims.

All Employers have a Duty of Care to ensure the health, safety & psychological as well as physical welfare of all their employees.

An employer who fails to prevent Workplace Bullying and other types of harassment can be sued by an employee for breach of employment contract, even in cases where a contract is not even written down.

Hospitals and their Management staff that don’t implement regular Workplace Training Programs in these and related areas, expose themselves to serious penalties and potentially damaging legal claims.

For example, In NSW, fines of up to $825,000 have been incurred by Workcover in relation to reported Workplace Bullying.

Not only do hospitals have contractual obligations to their employees, they are also required by law to provide a safe system of work (providing comprehensive induction and compliance training, raising awareness & education campaigns).

Failure to do so can result in employers being sued for vicarious liability, put simply, employers can be held responsible for what another employee has failed to do (ie not providing the correct training, not reporting incidents etc).

Generally speaking, an employee who has suffered a psychological injury as a result of an incident that has occurred in their workplace, shall receive compensation from their employer where the incident took place.

This in turn has a substantial effect on Workcover premiums.

In NSW the maximum penalty for a first offence under the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2000, is $550,000.00 for a corporation and $55,000.00 for an individual.

In Victoria, the maximum penalty is $250,000.00 for a corporation and $50,000.00 for an individual (Occupational Health & Safety Act 1985).

In Queensland, the maximum is $375,000.00 for corporations and $75,000.00 for individuals (Workplace Health & Safety Act 1995).

Lion Global HR are major suppliers of Duty of Care Workplace Training Programs© on

• Workplace Bullying Prevention
• Workplace Sexual Harassment Prevention
• Workplace Discrimination Prevention
• Internet & Email Liability.

Duty of Care Training Programs can be used as part of your hospitals' overall learning & development and Risk Management Strategy. Examples of some member hospitals already using these programs are Friendly Society Private Hospital in Queensland, Sydney IVF, Northside Cremorne & Alwyn Rehabilitation Hospital.

These programs can be utilised in either induction training and/or ongoing compliance training to ensure maximum protection from liability for your hospital.

All Duty of Care Training Programs © are accompanied with either relevant Policies and/or Summary Notes to compliment your training session.

Visit us online at www.lionglobalhr.com.au for a free 5 minute preview of all Duty of Care Workplace Training Programs ©.

This long running case was settled after an employee claims she was sexually harassed, discriminated against, victimised and bullied..

She sought $11 million in damages for loss of earning, loss of clients, counselling and damage to her reputation.

Ms Rich had detailed a series of alleged sexual harassment incidents from 1999 to 2004.

She alleges a partner felt her breasts and another -- her immediate boss -- repeatedly invited her to his hotel room during a conference in 1999 and adopted a practice of greeting her with a kiss, despite her objections.

This case follows a landmark settlement of $US54 million paid to several women by Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley in New York in July last year over discrimination and workplace sexism.

We are so dependant on Email & the Internet to conduct business that we forget the potential liability issues that arise when we become complacent about the power our fingers exude over the humble keyboard.

Emails have the potential to destroy corporations, careers, reputations not to mention the possibility of enormous damages and legal costs.

As Recruiters, we are only too aware of the risk of written promises in emails to candidates and clients alike.

A recent episode illuminates this point.

Steve Taggart, a senior executive, is claiming $58million in damages after allegedly being misled in the recruitment process by two consultants from Russell Reynolds and the ANZ. Taggart claims that recruiter, Lynne Anderson, told him that ANZ would be looking for an internal successor for their CEO within a few years whilst consulting him about an Institutional Banking role within the bank. He alleges that this was relayed to him in an email by the consultants and that there were no other contenders.

Having been given this information, Taggart claims that he made it very clear he would only accept the position in Institutional Banking if he could move into the CEO's position when it became available.

Consequently, Taggart was overlooked for the CEO's role.

Taggart was then sacked in June 2007 after his division returned a third consecutive year of flat profit.

One of the other issues to emanate from this scenario is the damage to a candidates’ reputation which is contributing to the amount of reparations being sought after.

Emails become a source of evidence in lawsuits and no one can ever be sure of how many copies of an email exist and in how many different locations.

As well as the direct Liability issues, Recruiters must be mindful of the vicarious liability issues that can arise from contract staff and their non compliance in a clients’ workplace.

Recruiters need to identify and raise awareness amongst contract staff about non compliance and the different categories of Internet & Email Abuse in the workplace, in order to avoid vicarious liability and potential loss and damage.

The best possible protection for Recruiters is providing upfront and ongoing comprehensive training in this potentially explosive area.

Workplace Liability.com is a Duty of Care Training Program© which covers this topic and identifies all the categories of potential liability.

Topics covered include:-

• Email risks and misconceptions

Email and Internet Liability Issues including:-

• Copyright Infringement
• Sexual Harassment
• Discrimination
• Bullying
• Confidentiality Breach
• Privacy
• Product and Professional Liability
• Defamation
• Computer Viruses
• Contractual Liability and Illegal Activity
• Scams and Fraud
• Vicarious Liability and the Legal System

The program can be used by Recruiters as an induction and ongoing compliance training tool for contract staff.

The program was produced in Australia and is also accompanied with Summary Notes and is available in CD Rom or DVD Format.

For a free 5 minute on line preview, go to http://www.lionglobalhr.com.au/workplaceliabilitycom.