Nine cases of harassment in a decade

A new report has detailed the number of harassment complaints at City Council in the past decade – including claims of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Adelaide City Council has reported nine cases of harassment in the last ten years – four of which were substantiated following investigation.

Of the four complaints that were upheld, three were for sexual harassment.

The five page report defended the efforts of the organisation to prevent bullying, harassment and sexual harassment, with the number of complaints detailed at the end.

Most complaints were about other employees, with two about the council itself, and four of the complaints were handled internally.

The report comes amid revelation nearly $40 million has been paid out in more than 841 workplace harassment claims within state government departments over the past five years.

Councillor Anne Moran has complained about ill treatment within council. Picture: Brenton Edwards

In the report, released as part of the agenda for tomorrow night’s council meeting, the administration also goes to great lengths to outline its record of action on the issue of harassment.

“As an organisation, we are committed to supporting our people to proactively resolve

workplace behaviour and interpersonal issues and to deal with formal allegations efficiently, compassionately, and consistently, always with the safety and wellbeing of our people as our priority,’’ it states.

Councillors had asked for the report on March 9, passing a motion which noted the public controversy about the “toxic culture” in federal and state parliament, and called for a report.