Vengeful superiors stopping female workers from lodging reports: Cuepacs
PORT DICKSON: Government departments and agencies are not free from incidents of workplace violence, or so it seems. According to an official of the Congress of Unions of Employees in Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs), the fact was workplace violence involving women employees was “alarming”.
Cuepacs finance secretary Razali Singah said if the issue did not seem to arise it was because victims refused to lodge any report for fear of retribution by their superiors. Razali said vengeful superiors were known to get back at their subordinates through the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (LNPT) and Annual Work Target (SKT) assessments.
“For examples, sexual harassment, harassment from bosses, colleagues and so on, they are afraid to report these because they fear their work performance assessments will be affected,” he said after the opening ceremony of ‘Enhancing Quality of the Public Service Seminar and Addressing Violence against Women Campaign’ here yesterday.
Razali said the number of cases pertaining to violence against women in the workplace was alarming and could worsen if no initiative was taken to address them. “Victims are known to eventually decide to keep silent because they are depressed. This state of affair will eventually affect their work performance.
“There are reports received on violence against female civil servants from every sector, but the number of those who refused to report is much bigger.
“This is a cause for concern, and if no action is taken to address the problem, it may become cancerous,” Bernama quoted Razali. Razali called for more campaigns and talks to be organised to help female civil servants know their rights.
“By giving exposure through seminars, it is hoped that female civil servants will be aware that they can actually lodge complaints to the top management about any wrongdoings against them without fear. “I also recommend for female civil servants to join the unions according to their sector or to contact members of the Public Service Peer Counselling Programme to have someone to talk to, if they don’t feel comfortable talking about the matter with their superiors,” he said.
