[Trigger Warning: Suicide]
(Australia)
Court Services Victoria (CSV) has been convicted and fined $379,157 over a toxic workplace culture at the Coroners Court of Victoria that contributed to the suicide of one worker and numerous others taking stress leave.
The independent statutory body, which administers Victoria’s court system, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace.
It was also ordered to pay $13,863 in costs.
The court heard that from at least December 2015 to September 2018, workers at the Coroners Court were at risk from exposure to traumatic materials, role conflict, high workloads and work demands, poor workplace relationships, and inappropriate workplace behaviours.
During this period, workers made numerous complaints, including allegations of bullying, favouritism and cronyism, verbal abuse, derogatory comments, intimidation, invasions of privacy, and perceived threats to future progression.
A number of workers took leave after reporting feelings of anxiety, PTSD, stress, fear, and humiliation.
Some workers never returned to the workplace, including the Principal In House Solicitor Jessica Wilby. The 45-year-old had been on personal leave for three months, during which she was diagnosed with a work-related major depressive disorder, when she took her own life in September 2018.
CSV admitted it failed to conduct any adequate process to identify risks, and any adequate risk assessment of the risks to psychological health of employees at the Coroners Court.
What you’ll get: