1. South | Level 5, 2-4 Kirksway Place, Battery Point, Tasmania, 7004 | Telephone (03) 6223 6361
North | Level 2, 39 Paterson Street, Launceston, Tasmania, 7250 | Telephone (03) 6334 1173
www.quartzconsulting.com.au
Q News
Q
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 5
This Edition
Rebranding
2015 - What Lies Ahead
Social Media and Bullying - Are you
Prepared?
Recording Private Conversations in
the Workplace

2. - 2 -
Rebranding
On 17 December 2014 James O’Neill & Associate launched its new brand, Quartz Consulting.
The Quartz Consulting brand came together after an invigorating and challenging journey lead by our
Directors in partnership with Red Jelly.
Quartz Consulting – why change? In light of the incredible growth the business has experienced in
the last eight years, it was important for us to develop a brand which reflected not only how the
business has evolved, but also its vision for the future.
Importantly, our values established as James O’Neill & Associates have not changed. We will
continue to pride ourselves on our responsiveness and on our common sense and practical approach
to workplace relations solutions. Quartz Consulting is and will continue to be about our relationship
with you, our clients.
Using our extensive skills and experience, Quartz Consulting will be your partner in the workplace.
Our consultants understand your business and will work with you to develop practical workplace
solutions and foster long-term business relationships.
We are also excited to announce that as part of our new brand, we are also offering a range of new
products: Q Negotiator, Q People, Q Pay and Q Vault.
Q Negotiator
When you need advice, attendance and preparation around workplace issues, you need the
Negotiator. The Negotiator is your partner and has your best interests at heart. We will work
alongside you to determine the best strategy to resolve your issues in a speedy, efficient and
respectful manner. The Negotiator will represent you at meetings, prepare and lodge all agreements
and attend to all statutory requirements. No job is too large or small for the Negotiator.
Don’t stress or worry, just call us and ask for the Negotiator.
Q People
Our Q People service is like bringing an HR coach into your business. We offer training sessions and
ongoing support for managers and supervisors on HR and workplace relations matters. The objective
is to equip managers with the practical tools and skills to help prevent any workplace issues from
arising. Q People can help your people become better at managing their people.
Q Pay
If your payroll is becoming a chore or just getting too complicated, you need Q Pay. Q Pay is like
having a payroll manager on staff without the full-time wage. Q Pay is an outsourced payroll service

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that you can use when you need it. Apart from making sure your staff are paid on time with the
appropriate deductions and entitlements, we can also coach and support your administration staff
on payroll systems, procedures and requirements.
Q Vault
This is where we keep all the useful, important and valuable documentation pertaining to your
workplace, including HR policy templates, HR manuals, position descriptions and contracts of
employment. Think of Q Vault as a well-organised executive assistant that knows exactly what you
need, when you need it!
We are also currently developing two new products Q – Health and Wellbeing and Q – Tenders and
Reporting.
We will provide further details in relation to these new products in the Q News update.
2015 - What Lies Ahead
No doubt 2015 will be another challenging year on the workplace relations front and we will see a
number of changes and developments. We predict in 2015 we may see:
1. The first outcomes of the Modern Awards review.
2. The Productivity Commission’s findings and recommendations into Australia’s workplace
relations system.
3. The Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) 2015 minimum wage decision in June.
4. Some legislative changes in relation to union right of entry and industrial action (this is very
much dependent on the Government’s ability to get these changes through the Senate).
5. The ongoing push to include leave entitlements for employees experiencing family violence
in enterprise agreements.
The challenges will continue in respect to anti-discrimination claims, bullying and adverse action
claims.
Finally, please note a recent decision of the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has ruled that
payment for annual leave must occur at the time the leave is taken. Therefore, clauses in enterprise
agreements providing for cashing out in advance of annual leave and averaging payments for
intermittent employees over 12 months are not likely to be approved by the FWC.

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Social Media and Bullying - Are You
Prepared?
In 2014, our workplace relations updates contained a number of articles on the pertinent issue of
workplace bullying. We are continuing to work with clients in regards to bullying claims and a
number of businesses are still reporting issues in relation to bullying through social media. In
regards to social media this continues the ongoing blurring of the lines between what is a workplace
issue and what is a personal matter. Particularly when the employer is drawn into conflict between
two workers that is being played out through social media that other employees are witnessing.
As we begin 2015 it is important to consider if your business is prepared. Do you have the
appropriate policies in place, have you made your staff aware of the policy and what it means, and
what other reasonable steps have you put in place to protect your staff and the business?
Since the commencement of the Fair Work Commission’s Anti-Bullying Scheme on 1 January 2014,
one of the key issues has been how the scheme applies to bullying on social media pages, such as
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Given the increased use of these social media sites not only at home, but also during work hours,
many employees are reporting experiencing bullying by their colleagues while online.
Until recently, it has been unclear the extent to which the scheme would apply to bullying conducted
on social media, but in the case of Bawker & Others v DP World Melbourne Ltd (2014) the Fair Work
Commission has made a number of important rulings which have shed light on this issue.
In upholding the applicant’s bullying claim against the Maritime Union of Australia, the Fair Work
Commission observed that as the aim of the Anti-Bullying Scheme is to protect workers, its
provisions should be interpreted broadly. The Fair Work Commission made the following important
points:
 Examples of bullying conduct on social media may include:
o posting critical or abusive comments about colleagues;
o posting photos of colleagues without their consent and with the intention of
embarrassing or humiliating them; and
o excluding colleagues from groups set up for all staff on a social media page.
 The bullying conduct is not restricted to the time when the comments are first posted on
social media – rather, the bullying conduct extends for as long as the comments remain on
social media.
 The alleged bully does not have to be a worker; for example they may be a trainee,
contractor or a customer.

5. - 5 -
 It is not necessary for the comments to be posted by the alleged bully while they are at the
workplace.
 The post must have a relevant connection to the workplace. That is, it must directly relate to
a staff member.
The important thing for employers is to develop and implement a social medial policy which governs
the use of social media during work hours and your expectation around staff interactions online. A
clear and concise policy which is communicated to all staff can help prevent bullying in your
workplace and show that you took reasonable steps to prevent bullying.
Recording Private Conversations in the
Workplace
Today, smart phones are commonly used in the workplace. Many of us use them to email, schedule
meetings and appointments and so on. But recently there have been a number of cases where
devices, such as smart phones, have been used to record conversations in the workplace. This leads
to the question: can a person lawfully record a private conversation in the workplace in Tasmania?
As is often the case when dealing with legal issues the answer to this question cannot be reduced to
a simple “yes” or “no” answer. The correct answer depends entirely on the circumstances of each
case.
In Tasmania, the Listening Devices Act 1991 contains a number of provisions regarding recording
conversations. The key to the Tasmanian Act is section 5 - Prohibition on Use of Listening Devices.
Section 5 essentially states that it is unlawful to use (or permit to be used) a listening device to
record a private conversation to which a person is a party unless all of the principal parties to the
conversation consent to the use of the listening device.
There are some exemptions, such as to allow police to record interviews with suspects, but as a
general rule, consent to the use of the listening device must be given by each party to the
As part of our new Q Vault service, the consultants at Quartz have drafted a wide range of
employment documents, such as a social media policy, which we can tailor specifically to your
business. If you would like to speak with us about this exciting new service, please do not hesitate to
contact one of our consultants on 6223 6361 (Hobart) or 6334 1173 (Launceston).

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conversation. Certainly at the workplace level, consent must be given before a listening device can
be lawfully used.
There are a few terms used above which require further explanation:
1. What is a listening device? This means any device which can be used to record or listen to a
conversation while the conversation is taking place. Clearly this would include a Dictaphone, or more
common these days, a smart phone with recording capabilities.
2. What is a private conversation? The Act defines this as any words spoken by one person to
another (or others) in such a way that could reasonably be taken to indicate that at least one of the
parties to the conversation only desires the words to be listened to by the actual parties to the
conversation, or anyone else that they all consent can listen in. At the workplace a counselling or
disciplinary conversation between a manager and employee (and their support persons) would
almost always fall into this category.
3. What is a principal party to a conversation? This means any person who speaks during the
conversation and/or any person to whom words are spoken to.
One of the areas where doubt can arise in this legislation is whether or not a principal party to a
conversation has actually given their consent for it to be recorded or not. The Act allows consent to
be given expressly or impliedly. An example of express consent would be where an employee asks
“May I record this conversation?” and the manager replies “Yes, you may”.
Whether or not implied consent is given is not always as clear. An example of implied consent may
be where an employee gets their smarts phone out of their pocket, handles it for some time and
then places it in an obvious spot on the desk and asks the manager to speak up so the recording is
clear. By not requesting that the recording device be switched off, the manager could be considered
to have given implied consent to the recording of the conversation.
The Act also includes provisions which mean any unlawfully obtained recording of a discussion at a
workplace is inadmissible as evidence in subsequent hearings.
Penalties for breaches of this part of the Act include fines which may extend to $5600 and
imprisonment of up to 2 years.
In summary, it is unlawful to record any private workplace conversation in Tasmania without the
approval of all the parties to the conversation.
Should employees seek to record counselling or disciplinary meetings with a manager, the manager
concerned is entitled to refuse to give their consent. In fact, it is advisable for the manager to make
it very clear that recording of a conversation is not approved wherever it is apparent that recording

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may be taking place, regardless of whether or not the employee has mentioned the fact that they
are recording the meeting. Where the employee refuses to continue the conversation unless the
recording is permitted, it is a reasonably clear example of refusing to comply with a reasonable
instruction from their manager and disciplinary action may be commenced under your policy for that
matter alone.
Contact Us
Hobart
James O'Neill  Director
t: (03) 6223 6361
m: 0428 138 906
e: james@quartzconsulting.com.au
Richard Rollins  Director
t: (03) 6223 6361
m: 0414 813 310
e: richard@quartzconsulting.com.au
Tracey Doedens  Director
t: (03) 6223 6361
m: 0408 287 757
e: tracey@quartzconsulting.com.au
Anna Cooper  Workplace Relations Adviser
t: (03) 6223 6361
m: 0419 531 683
e: anna@quartzconsulting.com.au
Declan Clifford  Assistant Workplace
Relations Adviser
t: (03) 6223 6361
m: 0401 286 864
e: declan@quartzconsulting.com.au
Launceston
Andrew Flood  Workplace Relations
Consultant
t: (03) 6334 1173
m: 0427 016 106
e: andrewf@quartzconsulting.com.au
Andrew Cameron  Workplace Relations
Consultant
t: (03) 6334 1173
m: 0407 200 909
e: andrewc@quartzconsulting.com.au
Bendigo Victoria
Leigh Boscoe Workplace Relations
Consultant
m: 0418 605 931
e: leigh@quartzconsulting.com.au