Sydney Uni ‘unsafe’ for Jewish staff: workplace claim

Jewish staff and students have filed a workplace claim against the University of Sydney seeking remedies for “psychosocial harm” from antisemitism on campus.

The complaint to SafeWork NSW says Jewish employees have been subject to a “vicious racist campaign” which breaches the university’s responsibility to provide a safe working environment.

The group of 23 staff and students is seeking consequences “up to and including criminal charges” against vice-chancellor Mark Scott for his failure to respond to numerous incidents including threats against Jews, violent images, and constant aggression on campus.

Lead complainant Associate Professor Andy Smidt said the university had failed to meet its legal obligations to provide a safe working environment.

“Workplaces have a requirement to make sure that your environment is safe, both physically and psychosocially, if harm is foreseeable. We've been meeting with Mark Scott and emailing and talking to him and various others since about October 10 last year, and we've been alerting him to these dangers for 11 months. So yes, I believe the psychosocial harm was foreseeable.

“We've got to the point where we no longer have trust that they are able to create a psychosocially safe environment. So, we've put it in the hands of SafeWork NSW.”

Smidt said Scott repeatedly cited the university’s obligation to freedom of speech but did not acknowledge an equal obligation to workplace safety.