Duress and Coercion
Duress and coercion applied by Employers to force their employees to make decisions which they may not have made under reasonable circumstances is a big NO NO in the industrial relations landscape.
In 2007/2008 a large and well known confectionary company saw the seriousness of the laws when the errant comments of managers were taken to task by 12 Employees. The comments were made during the process of making individual workplace agreements and caused the Employees, or had the intended effect of causing the Employees, to make a decision under undue and illegal pressure. The Court fined the Employer $120,000 for the inappropriate comments and behaviour of the managers.
The finding of the Court clearly indicated an unacceptable level of human resources systems within the Company which led to the inappropriate conduct of its managers.
There are many, many other cases which have imposed consistently high penalties.
Employers must ensure that duress and coercion are not used to influence an employee's decisions.
Duress and coercion does not include appropriate bargaining strategies and tactics but it does include:
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Threatening to sack an employee or change their working arrangements
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Carrying out any of the aforementioned.
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Bullying and harassment
Duress and coercion does nothing to gain the support of the workforce and seriously undermines any good relationships already on foot.
Manager training in relation to the proper and effective management of employees is paramount in today's industrial relations environment.
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