‘Bullies, harassed’ education staff taking months off, making workers’ compensation claims

Public education staff who cite bullying and harassment in their mental stress claims are missing the equivalent of half a year’s work each.

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Public education staff who cite bullying and harassment in their mental stress claims are missing the equivalent of half a year’s work each.

Dozens of staff are making such workers’ compensation claims, resulting in thousands of days of lost work each year.

Of the 47 claims last financial year, 35 were accepted, though the department says the workers compensation scheme rules on psychological injury and does not make findings on bullying itself.

SA Best MP Frank Pangallo, who obtained the figures, believes they are the tip of the iceberg and bullying is rife in the public service.

The 4266 working days lost so far from claims made in 2017/18 is equivalent to each compensated worker missing 24 weeks.

In a separate complaints system, 13 cases of workplace bullying and harassment were reported to the department’s ethical conduct unit in 2017/18 – by far the highest number in a decade – but the documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws say that tally does not include reports that “may have been made and/or managed locally”.

Mr Pangallo, who is seeking similar information from many government departments, said that complaints made to his office made him believe bullying and harassment was widespread.

“The Government and each department need to have a serious look at the way this problem is being handled,” he said.

“I suspect a lot of it is being swept under the carpet and not being properly addressed.

“When people do make complaints about bullying and harassment, they end up becoming the victims. Suddenly they are perceived as being trouble makers and efforts are made to move them on.”

Mr Pangallo said he expected to hear from more public service whistleblowers.

Over the past 10 years, 340 of the 420 mental stress claims citing bullying and harassment have been accepted, at a loss of almost 50,000 work days.

The information supplied to Mr Pangallo did not cover compensation costs or the types of workers involved, such as teachers or bureaucrats. It also excludes claims made by former Families SA workers.

The department said such claims were determined by assessing if there was a medically diagnosed psychiatric illness, and if the workplace was the main contributing factor.

That included cases such as a worker alleging harassment while being performance-managed.

“Workers compensation is a no-fault scheme and does not investigate or make findings in relation to bullying,” a spokeswoman said.

“The department’s ethical conduct unit investigates allegations of bullying, in accordance with the complaints resolution policy.”

Commissioner for Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri said she had initiated a whole-of-government survey on bullying and harassment conducted late last year.

She said responses were being reviewed and would be shared with public servants early next year.

“My office will work with public sector leaders to collaboratively develop a whole-of-government action plan on the survey’s themes, to support current initiatives … and to address the survey’s responses,” she said.