Workplace. Harassment. Discrimination and bullying

"Men like Mark McInnes, pumped up on their own self-importance, think they can impose their will on whomever, whenever they wish. The other senior executives at David Jones who stood by and looked the other way to protect their own interests are gutless." SMH 5.8.2010

Workplace. Discrimination in the workplace is much greater than you think. Harassment and bullying in the workplace is also quite prevalent. For those of you not living in Australia we are currently in the middle of a "short" Federal (national) Election campaign. Julia Gillard is the current Prime Minister having ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in an overnight bloodless coup: instigated in part by a slump in the Labor Government's popularity and allegedly Kevin Rudd failure to consult with his colleagues.

Anyway back to the issue of this hub. In the very middle of ' wall to wall' media coverage of the Federal election campaign the focus has been interrupted by a $37 million dollar legal claim against the former CEO Mark McInnes of David Jones Australia's 2nd largest and oldest group of department stores. The CEO was sacked a few weeks ago and fled to the United States following his sacking and million dollar termination payment. David Jones "the store" has been named as well as a defendant in the legal action by Industrial Relation Lawyers-Harmer's..

Former CEO of David Jones Mark McInnes had already admitted that he "made mistakes" by repeatedly sexual harassing and touching of the female former senior Marketing Executive. A person who would be under McInnes because of his CEO role and who clearly had a power relationship with the complainant. So I put this to you how many of you have been put in the unfortunate position of being harassed by those in positions of power above you. The issue is about the criminal abuse of power. I say criminal because it can a serious adverse effect on the person been subjected to it male or female. Some say the claim is way out of whack but given that so many senior managers have abused their power of authority by demanding sexual favours for so long its high time that a serious penalty be given to stop the abuse.

I say this because as a young boy of 15 it happened to me when I started my first job in a hardware store in England way back in 1972. It was almost molested by a male in his late 50's at the time when i was just 15 and weeks into my first job. I don't think I had even kissed a girl at that stage. The incident upset me and I was bullied by the 50+ year old man until I left. I was a clearly vulnerable youth and was attempted set upon by a predator. Nevertheless all these years later a incident like this reminds me of how serious these matters can be.

David Jones are as you can guess not alone in Australlia when it comes to comlaints of unwanted sexual harrassment in the workplace.

The Australian Human Rights Commission conducted a national survey in 2008 and found that 22 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men claimed to have experienced sexual harassment at work. While that compared with 28 per cent of women and 7 per cent of men in 2003, indicating that progress was being made, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick was deeply concerned about another finding.

"When we asked people about what they thought sexual harassment was, what we found was such a lack of understanding," Broderick tells The Weekend Australian. "People said 'no', when asked if they'd experienced sexual harassment. But when we asked them if they'd experienced any unwelcome touching or hugging, for example, they'd say, 'oh yeah, that happens quite regularly'."

Cases that appear before the Federal Court or state-based tribunals suggest that the same offences keep cropping up: unwanted touching, kissing, suggestive or pornographic emails and text messages, and persistent requests for dates.

Some of the many issues that this type of conduct raises is for one the psychological harm done to the victim. The corruption in favouritism given to employees that go along with this behaviour to those that refuse or rebuff it. More importantly the culture of cronyism and cover up,distrust denial and secrecy that can corrupt the workplace. It is about the harasser having power over the victim, which can have devastating results. I know because it once happened to me. woman whose lack of response to the sexual overtures meant her whole career and reputation was threatened with sabotage by a vindictive senior colleague.

In a recent development the former Chief Executive of David Jones  Mark McInnes has been appointed as CEO of The Just Group a retail organisation.  According to reports on a bas salary of three million dollars per year.