Earlier this month, high profile rugby star Israel Folau posted some highly offensive comments on Instagram stating that gay people were headed to “HELL… Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God”. It’s brought up the traditional questions about the right to free speech, vs. the rights of inclusion, as well as our…
Tag: Code of Conduct
Three strikes and you’re out – is it possible to ban sports talk in the workplace?
A recent opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald raised the issue of sport conversation in the workplace, emphasising its ability to exclude as sport can be significant within a culture, but not necessarily for all individuals. While this may be true, it is difficult to argue that sport should – and more importantly can…
Out of work conduct: when is dismissal justified?
We see it all the time in professional sports: athletes losing their contracts over poor decisions made away from the game. Take for example, Todd Carney who was spectacularly sacked from the Cronulla Sharks, without procedural fairness, following the ‘bubbler’ incident, or Nick D’Arcy who was kicked off the Australian swimming team bound for the…
David Pocock and the ARU. When do employers cross the line?
David Pocock is the latest example of a football player who has been sanctioned by their employer for what the code or employer consider undesirable behaviour outside of work. But in this case it is not recreational drugs, drinking or sexual indiscretion, violence against women, or (most exotically) the bubbler….. This time Pocock has been…