Hobart workplace investigator says her job caused vicarious trauma and post traumatic stress disorder

A Hobart workplace investigator says she suffered serious trauma in her job – having her home vandalised, being harassed by an alleged sex offender, and after a client fatally set himself on fire.

A Hobart workplace investigator says she suffered vicarious trauma as part of her role.

A workplace investigator has failed to prove she was unfairly dismissed after being subjected to trauma as part of her job – including being harassed by an alleged sex offender, her home being vandalised, and the death of a client who set himself on fire.

In July 2019, Amanda Davis began working in Hobart for Wise Workplaces – a national organisation that conducts investigations into issues like workplace misconduct, misconduct in the disability, childcare and aged care sectors, child abuse and grooming, bullying harassment and discrimination, and misuse of social media.

According to a newly-published Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision, Ms Davis said people in her role often suffered from psychological harm and vicarious trauma, with considerable emotional support needed to do the job.

But she said her employer had “no system of risk analysis or mitigation procedures in place, no peer support or other support function” and no coordinated approach to health and safety.

Ms Davis said during her time at Wise Workplaces, she was exposed to three “particularly traumatic events”, including being harassed in 2020 and 2021 by a teacher who allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted a student.

She said in January 2022, her home was vandalised with the word “bitch” spray-painted on buildings and fences – and she believed the perpetrator was someone she had interviewed during the course of an investigation.

In early 2023, Ms Davis said she investigated an incident in which a client poured petrol over himself and self-immolated.

She said the person’s support worker had not been advised before their interview that the man had died, leading to “severe emotional distress” of that worker that she needed to manage.

Ms Davis said her management gave her “nothing more than kind words”, and that the incidents were never properly recorded or processed.

She ultimately moved out of an operational role after becoming “unwell and exhausted”.

But in mid-2023, Ms Davis said a number of organisational changes were made, without her consultation, that directly affected her job and meant she would need to work in an investigations role again.

After a series of negotiations, Ms Davis resigned in October last year, claiming the workplace’s model was to “burn people out and churn on to the next one”.

But she later claimed she had been effectively forced to resign, saying she’d suffered a mental injury that her employer had been aware of, but had taken inadequate steps to address.

FWC deputy president Ian Masson did not agree.

He said given the nature of the job, it was difficult to see how any employee could avoid conducting investigations – and said there was a lack of evidence to back up Ms Davis’ claims she was suffering from “vicarious trauma and PTSD” that required changes to her duties.

Mr Masson said while the demands of Ms Davis’ role may have been significant, he didn’t accept her employer’s actions were taken with the intention of causing her to resign.

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