Domestic Violence and the Workplace – Employee, Employer and Union Resources | Page 13
WORKPLACE GUIDE
Managing abusive calls and emails
The most common form of domestic violence
reported by victims at work is abusive phone
calls.
Obtaining a ‘domestic violence protection order’
can help stop abusive phone calls and/or emails.
The following recommendations will assist
in managing abusive and unwelcome phone
calls and/or emails in order to minimise the
impact on the safety and work performance of
employees experiencing domestic violence and
their co-workers.
Confidentiality
Where a worker discloses that they are receiving
unwelcome or abusive emails or calls, their
disclosure should be treated confidentially, in
accordance with the domestic violence clauses
in the relevant enterprise agreement and/or any
workplace privacy policy.
Emails
n Any email communication containing threats
of harm should be reported to the police
(and workplace security) immediately.
n Providing the worker with a new email address
may be the first response, but may disrupt
their work performance. It is preferable to
automatically divert all emails from the abuser
into to a separate folder and/or block emails
from the abuser’s email account. This minimises
disruption.
Phone calls or text messages
n Calls or text messages containing threats of
harm should be reported to the police (and
workplace security) immediately.
n The time, date, length and content of all
unwanted calls should be noted. Any abusive
text messages should be saved or noted if the
phone memory is full.
n Telephone calls generally cannot be recorded
by the recipient or monitored without the
caller’s permission, however, where a caller
is informed that their call is to be transferred
to voicemail or an answer phone, and they
continue with the phone call, this counts as
consenting to the recording.
Recommended safety actions
include
n Changing the worker’s phone number.
n Removing the worker’s name or phone number
from publicly available contact lists (or from
internal phone directories where the abusive
person is also an employee). This should
include automated phone directories.
n Using voicemail or an answering machine to
screen calls.
n Other strategies include:
1. Providing a telephone handset with ‘caller
ID’, allowing the worker to screen their own
calls.
n
This will not work where the abusive person
uses a blocked number or calls from a
number unknown to the victim.
n
One company provides a ‘caller ID’ unit
which can be used on any handset with this
facility for $6 per month.
n Any abusive, threatening or excessive email
received should be stored and retained. This
can assist the victim to obtain a domestic
violence protection order against the abuser
and can be used as evidence of breach of a
protection order (if applicable).
Domestic Violence and the Workplace – Employee, Employer and Union Resources | Page 14
2. Using different ring tones for calls from
particular numbers, allowing the worker to
screen calls.
n
n In each State and Territory the police have
a nominated point of contact (the Police
Communication Centre) which coordinates
action between telephone providers and the
police regarding life-threatening calls.
One telephone company provides this
service for $4.40 per month.
3. Using a call forwarding service, provided
by some telephone systems/companies.
n
Police powers to trace calls
This enables calls from selected numbers to
be forwarded to the supervisor, security staff
or an answer phone before it reaches the
employee’s phone. One company provides
this service for $2.20 per month.
4. Police can trace calls and order phone
records (see police powers below).
n Police investigating a menacing, harassing or
offensive call can order the phone company to
provide identifying information about the caller.
Telephone provider powers
n For repeated unwelcome calls, the telephone
provider can identify the caller’s number
and implement procedures to stop them (in
conjunction with the telephone provider of the
caller if the two are not the same). There may
be a small charge involved (about $5).
Co-workers and screening
It may be necessary to let colleagues know about
the situation to provide effective safety for the
victim and their co-workers.
n For further reading, refer to the phone
provider’s website for example Telstra
customers can read:
n Colleagues may be asked to assist in
screening incoming phone calls for the victim.
n If telephone calls are routed through a
switchboard, they can screen particular names/
numbers.
n Co-workers to whom disclosure is made should
be aware of their privacy and confidentiality
obligations. Training should be provided to
ensure they do not inadvertently disclose
information to callers which may place the
victim at risk.
http://telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/advice/
unwelcome-calls/