Under the Terms of Reference for this Inquiry:
The prevalence of workplace bullying and the experience of victims; and role of workplace cultures in preventing and responding to bullying I wish to draw to your attention:
• the entrenched systematic culture of bullying at the University
• the lack of support from the University following my initial allegation of bullying; and more importantly
• the enforced punitive punishment regime I experienced following my submission of a formal grievance that attempted to expose bullying within the workplace.
Brief summary of submission:
I experienced 5 years of bullying within my discipline (2000-2005):
• Constant changing of my work tasks (courses deleted without consultation that resulted in the development of new courses outside of my specialization);
• Constant public humiliation (belittling of my expertise/ideas at staff meetings); • Excessive teaching workload resulting in 75hr plus working week that prevented me from engaging fully with my research commitments;
• Withholding of financial resources allocated to cross-faculty courses that I was responsible for;
• Overt ostracisation following my support for two post-graduate student whistleblowers that were treated badly by senior staff Lack of support and punitive punishment following my formal allegation of bullying (2005-2008)
• Refusal of the University to allow me to return to my academic duties following sick leave for major depression in early 2005 which I claimed had resulted from bullying
• The University’s refusal to accept medical certificates from my GP, my personal psychiatrist reports and the University funded psychiatrist’s reports stating my medical fitness to re-engage with my academic duties
• Placed under restrictive workplace conditions following my objection to the removal of a ‘stop workplace bullying’ poster from my office door
• Stigmatisation of my mental health injury that I had experienced in early 2005 through an University management enforced three year punishment regime of social, professional and physical isolation on campus; and
• The development of a discriminatory survey by Human Resources to justify their draconian and punitive punishment and subsequent forced early retirement.
Dear Honourable MPs,
First, I must state that in July 2008 under considerable duress I signed a confidentiality agreement (aligned with a ‘voluntary’ redundancy) stating that I would not discuss my employment with a third person or take legal action against the University. However, I will always regret being complicit in a cover up of malicious workplace behaviour at the University.
