Respect@Work Reporting is an independent and confidential service available to receive reports of sexual harassment or any other unacceptable behaviours such as bullying, harassment, discrimination or any breaches of the Code of Conduct – anonymously if you wish.

It supports Mercy Health’s values, Code of Conduct, and other policies.

Any breaches of the Code of Conduct, related policies, and issues that may adversely affect Mercy Health. This may include any criminal offence, breach of legal obligation, unsafe behaviour, sexual harassment, harassment, bullying or discrimination.

There are several different ways that employees can report a concern. ​Depending on the situation, you may report a concern to:

• Your manager
• An HR Business Partner or HR Officer​​
• A Work, Health & Safety Manager

To actively protect workers from sexual harassment, best practice also includes providing anonymous feedback channels. This may assist employees to feel safe to report sexual harassment, and other acceptable behaviour.

Mercy Health has engaged Stopline to provide an independent, confidential and impartial service to manage the receipt, recording and reporting of sexual harassment and other acceptable behaviour.

Stopline has people experienced in handling sensitive information from stakeholders.

Stopline is an Australian specialist service provider operating since 2001, focusing on integrity and whistleblowing services. We assist listed and private companies, local, state, and Commonwealth public sector bodies, as well as not-for-profit organisations. Further details are available at www.stopline.com.au

No. Your report to Stopline can be anonymous and you will not need to provide any personal details.

If you choose to remain anonymous, Stopline will issue a confidential reference and password should you wish to review the status of your report at a later date.

If you do not wish to remain anonymous, this information may be provided to a senior member of the People, Learning & Culture team at Mercy Health.

Reports of sexual harassment will be treated in line with the Sexual Harassment Policy, specifically, that Mercy Health will:

• Treat information in relation to reports of sexual harassment with appropriate confidentiality;
• Take reports seriously and all parties will be treated fairly and supported; and
• Ensure that a person is not victimised for making, or being involved in, a sexual harassment report.

Stopline enables employees, contractors and volunteers to report sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviours online or via telephone, email or mail. Stopline is an independent organisation with trained staff who will receive your concerns confidentially (anonymously if you wish) and provide the confidential information to a senior member of the People, Learning & Culture team at Mercy Health. The program then necessitates procedural requirements dealing with and finalising the outcome of the disclosure.

You can contact Stopline when you have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment or any other inappropriate by an employee and/or contractor.

You can call Stopline on 1300 30 45 50 (in Australia) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  A Stopline investigator will answer your call during business hours (0800 – 1800 Mon – Fri AEST).  Any messages left with our overnight team will be responded to within one working day. You can also send your disclosure via the internet (this website), email, or mail.

The strength of Stopline is that all allegations will be professionally managed by trained Stopline staff. The experience of Stopline is that vexatious reports occur very infrequently. Stopline focuses on the message, not the messenger. Mercy Health may decline to investigate the matter if satisfied that the disclosure is trivial, frivolous or vexatious.

Yes. You will be kept advised about the status of the report, decisions made regarding how the matter is to be handled, time frames that apply and the result of any investigation and action taken as that information is communicated with Stopline. If you choose to remain anonymous, you will be issued with a confidential reference and password and must initiate contact through one of the methods outlined on the home page to receive feedback.

Where a person who makes a disclosure is implicated in the misconduct, Mercy Health will use all reasonable efforts to protect the individual from reprisals; however the act of reporting improper conduct may not shield the person from the reasonable consequences flowing from any involvement in serious misconduct.

Full details are available on Mercy Health’s intranet site at People & Learning > Organisational Development > Respect@Work.