INTERNATIONAL SECTION continued


Australian Study Finds Nearly A Third Of Employees Are Victims Of Domestic Violence; Half Find Abuse Seriously Impacting Work


Domestic violence is directly linked with widespread productivity issues at thousands of Australian workplaces, a national workplace study has found. Nearly a third of employees included in the 2011 study identified themselves as victims of domestic violence, with half of those reporting that violence in the home was having a serious impact on their ability to do their job. The impact on productivity included everything from being tired and late for work, to abusive and threatening phone calls, emails and even physical injuries that prevented them from working. About one in five reported that domestic violence continued at their workplace, with abusive partners showing up, unwanted and unannounced. These findings from the "Safe At Home, Safe At Work" survey were released at a national workplace conference held in Melbourne on December 5th.


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DECISIONPOINT – continued The Situation(continued)


On April 7, 2010, the day Younge-Barnes's employment with Kaiser was terminated, Arendon, who was the manager on duty at the time, received a telephone call from Wilson. Arendon testified that Wilson was irate, and that he said to Arendon, "If something happened to my wife who just stepped out of the hospital right now, you are going to pay


for this." Arendon attempted to get more information from Wilson, but he was "very, very upset." Arendon stated that Wilson's telephone call "alarmed" her.


On June 26, 2010, Wilson was detained by police after making threats that he was going to " 'kill someone.' " The following day, Mrs. Younge-Barnes told a therapist that Wilson had been making threats that he was going to shoot Gibson.Based on all of this information Kaiser Foundation Hospitals applied for anRestraining Order enjoining Defendant Jeff Wilson from committing further acts of violence or making threats of violence against two employees of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in San Diego County, CA.


Did the employer prevail in their request for the Restraining Order? To see what the court decided go to page 13


Air New Zealand Worker Sacked for Shooting Spree Comments


An authority member found an Air New Zealand worker’s dismissal justified after making numerous comments about bringing a gun to work and going on a shooting spree. The discharged employee, Shane Clarke, was fired from his job as an aircraft loader at Wellington Airport after an investigation found his comments were made in the form of a threat and amounted to serious misconduct, especially in the security conscious environment of the aviation industry. Despite Clarke’s attempt at blaming his comments on temporary moments of frustration and a culture of jokes in the workplace, the authority member still ruled his comments were made in a serious manner and thus dismissal was warranted.


To read more, click here Verbal Threats as Workplace Violence


Canada - An arbitrator has rejected the grievance of an employee who challenged her dismissal for uttering a death threat towards a co-worker in one of the first cases to examine the impact of Bill 168. This bill made significant amendments to Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act initiated in 2010, requiring employers and employees to take steps to prevent and address violence and harassment in the workplace, specifically verbal threats.


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