Compliance and Breaches: Equal Opportunity in the Department of Health

This report provides a comprehensive overview of equal opportunity, equity, and diversity within the Australian Department of Health. It defines key terms such as equal opportunity, equity, and diversity, emphasizing the importance of treating all employees equally and fostering a diverse workforce. The report outlines the relevant code of conduct, including the treatment of persons and the elimination of discrimination, as well as the procedures for reporting breaches of legislation. It details actions that constitute breaches, such as noncompliance, discrimination, and sexual harassment, and discusses the consequences of non-compliance, including transfer, demotion, and fines. Furthermore, the report highlights the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 and its mandates to eliminate discrimination and harassment. It also includes the importance of promoting a positive work environment and ensuring equal opportunities for a diverse workforce. The report references several sources and provides insights into compliance, reporting, and the implications of violating workplace regulations within the healthcare sector.

COMPLIANCE REPORT
INTRODUCTION
Equal opportunity means to provide equal chance to every
employee to participate in the business activities so that they
can be selected and promoted for the post (Persson, 2016). In
this context, this poster will consist of principles and policies
relating with equal opportunities, equity and diversity which
are prescribed in the laws of The Department of Health,
Australia.
3) Information on relevant code of conduct
 Treatment of Person: Promote a positive work environment is the code of conduct for
treatment of person prescribed by the organisation. Employees must treat person efficiently.
They must not mock them or harass them and provide effective support and assistance to
them.
 Discrimination: To eliminate discrimination, organisation has formulated code of conduct
and code of ethics in which corporate governance of The Department of Health, make efforts
in order to eliminate any type of discriminative activity occurred in the organisation (Persson,
2016).
 Diversity: Equity and diversity code formulated in the organisation which provide equal
opportunities to diverse workforce efficiently.
4) Procedures for reporting breaches
 Initial identification and notification: Identification of breach must be done by
the supervisor or staff member within 24 hour.
 Breach Containment: The supervisor or manager must take immediate action to
contain the breach, depending on the nature of breach.
 Assessment and escalation of breach: The nature of breach will determine the
escalation and assessment (Knope and et.al., 2013). High risk breach is the one
which impact on the organisation severely.
 Investigation: Investigation must be made by the manager in order to identify
the cause of breach
 Implementation of corrective action: Fines and penalties will be imposed
according to the level of breach.
 Recording and registration of breach: A record will be made in the form of
report as a evidence.
 Complaint and appeal process: It will be provided to the employee to appeal
against the action taken by the management of organisation.
1) Identification of equal opportunity in Australia
The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 proposed in Australia
mandates:
 To eliminate the discrimination against the person on
the grounds of gender, race, religion and culture basis.
 To eliminate sexual harassment and racial harassment
in the workplace.
 To promote recognition and acceptance within the
community of the equality of men and women.
 To promote recognition and acceptance with the
community of the equality of persons of all races,
regardless of their religious or political convictions,
their impairments or ages.
2) Meaning of Equal Opportunity, Equity and Diversity
 Equal opportunity: Equal opportunity means all the employees working in the Department of Health must be treated equally and identically. The concept
of equal opportunities is a broadly used phrase which promotes the idea that everyone in working in the organisation must have equal chance to apply
and be selected for the post (De Bortoli, Coles and Dolan, 2013). For this Equal Opportunity Act was proposed in the legislation of Australia in 1984,
which encourages the identification and eradication of discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation activities occurred at workplace. The
legislation further improved and proposed again in 2010 with new transformations.
 Equity and Diversity: Workforce diversity means different types, culture, civilisation, religion of people working in the organisation for one common
purpose, i.e. to accomplish the organisational goals and objectives (Mukamel, Haeder and Weimer, 2014). Equity and Diversity are the principles of
legislation which are mandatory for an organisation to follow in order to eliminate the organisational issues regarding discriminations, harassments, etc.
5)Actions which constitute the breaches of the legislation and guidelines
 Noncompliance of legislation: Employees who does not follow the rules and
regulation prescribed by the organisation constitute the breaches of the legislation
and guidelines. For example, disciplinary actions, transfer and demotions.
 Discrimination: Employees who discriminates other employees in the
organisation, falls into breach of legislation of equity and diversity principle. For
example, discriminating employees on the basis of gender.
 Sexual Harassment: Employees who sexually harasses other employees triggers
breach of equal opportunity act.
6) Consequences of non compliance
 Transfer: Employees who breaks rules and does not follow the laws
prescribed by the organisation will immediately transferred from their
position (Luu and et.al., 2016). For eg., Manager of The Department of
Health got transferred after caught doing personal work at office hours.
 Demotion: For non-compliance of legislation, employees will get demoted
to their previous post. For example, an executive of The Department of
Health got demotion after his team complained about his inappropriate
behaviour. For eg., Supervisor of the organisation got demoted after got
frequent complaints of him from his team.
 Fines and Penalties: On the spot fines will be imposed in case of non-
compliance of legislation by any employee and employer. For eg., worker
of the agency imposed with fines after found sleeping at work hour.
Persson, A., 2016. ‘The world has changed’: pharmaceutical citizenship and the reimagining of
serodiscordant sexuality among couples with mixed HIV status in Australia. Sociology of health &
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Luu, P. H. and et.al., 2016. Seafood safety compliance with hygiene regulations within Vietnamese domestic
distribution chains. British Food Journal, 118(4), pp.777-794.
De Bortoli, L., Coles, J. and Dolan, M., 2013. Parental substance misuse and compliance as factors
determining child removal: A sample from the Victorian Children's Court in Australia. Children and
Youth Services Review, 35(9), pp.1319-1326.