Staff angry sexual harassment manager reinstated

Ambulance staff are furious a manager who was demoted for sexual harassment will return to work alongside the very people who lodged the complaints.

Ambulance staff are furious a manager who was demoted for sexual harassment will return to work alongside the very people who lodged the complaints.

The Queensland Ambulance Service demoted the base salary of a manager by $47,000 per annum following systematic breaches of its code of conduct. Yet that manager will now be retrained and returned to work alongside his complainants.

The Department of Community Safety Ethical Standards Unit investigated allegations of "inappropriate interaction with female staff members" by the senior ambulance service employee, and a spokesperson said the policy breaches were taken very seriously. "To ensure no recurrence of such behaviour other actions have been commenced including a range of retraining, formalised continuous supervision and commencement of a structured Performance Improvement Plan,” a spokesperson told The Courier-Mail.

However, workers at the communications centre involved have told the paper they find it outrageous that the man will be allowed back to sit among those who complained about his actions.

The QAS spokesman added that the staff member involved had expressed remorse and formally apologised. "The QAS is confident that appropriate action has been taken to address the concerns of the complainants and mitigate the risk of further breaches of the code upon the staff member's return."

What is HR’s best practice in transitioning a worker back into the workforce who has been found to have perpetrated sexual harassment?