Equal Opportunity – Employees

Responsibilities

Responsibilities of the Department

The Department recognises its obligation under this Policy to take reasonable measures to eliminate discrimination and harassment of any kind from its workplaces. The Department is committed to:

• ensuring that there are clear processes in place for raising grievances and complaints
• taking action if the Department is aware of any behaviour which could constitute discrimination or harassment, even if no complaint has been lodged. All employees can be liable for the actions of others if they authorise, encourage or assist discrimination or harassment to occur in the workplace
• clearly communicating and promoting these processes
• monitoring the implementation of this Policy
• identifying potential risk factors and taking prompt, reasonable action to minimise those risks, including
• managing organisational change in an inclusive and participatory way, for example, consult with employees affected as early as possible and develop and maintain effective communication throughout the process
• implementing work systems to prevent the risk of discrimination or harassment. Ensure these systems maintain privacy and confidentiality of data collected and review and evaluate those systems, for example, seek feedback from employees through the People Matter Survey and School Staff Survey
• promoting positive working relationships in the Department’s workplaces
• ensuring information and training to support the effective implementation of this Policy is accessible and available
• reviewing the Policy every 2 years or earlier as required, and communicating any changes or updates of the Policy to employees

Responsibilities of executives, managers and principals

Executives, managers and principals are responsible for:

• promoting and modelling appropriate behaviour the Department’s values
• understanding what constitutes discrimination and knowing how to prevent or respond to any alleged discrimination
• monitoring the working environment to ensure as far as practicable that acceptable standards of conduct are maintained at all times and that discrimination or harassment are not tolerated
• promoting awareness of the avenues for advice and the complaints procedures with respect to discrimination or harassment as set out in this Policy
• treating complaints and behaviour which may constitute discrimination or harassment seriously and taking immediate action
• treating complaints of discrimination or harassment with appropriate confidentiality
• ensuring that a person is not victimised for making, or being involved in, a complaint of discrimination or harassment
• providing contact details for Workplace Contact Officers to complainants or respondents where appropriate
• referring to this Policy in their employee codes of conduct and practice

Responsibilities of all employees

Employees are responsible for:

• complying with this Policy
• reporting any incident of discrimination or harassment that they have experienced or witnessed
• participating in any training provided by the Department, including completing the Equal Opportunities e-learning module on eduPay
• modelling appropriate behaviour, including the employment principles, the public sector standards (Victorian Public Sector Employment Principles and Standards) and the Department's values (Values — Department and VPS Values for School Employees)
• treating any allegations or complaints of discrimination or harassment with appropriate confidentiality