Respectful Contact Policy

JusticeNet is committed to ensuring any person or organisation using JusticeNet’s services is experiencing difficulties and high levels of stress, anxiety or frustration. Despite this, we ask all users of our services to treat our staff with respect.

For the purposes of this policy, we refer to “clients”, which we take to include all users of JusticeNet’s services, including applicants for our services who are not in a traditional client-solicitor relationship. We also use the term “staff” in this policy, which we take to include our volunteers.

We acknowledge our clients’ rights to be heard and to be dealt with in a transparent and compassionate manner; but we will not tolerate unreasonable client conduct, including unreasonable behaviour and demands.

Unreasonable behaviour

Unreasonable behaviour is behaviour that may impact the health, safety and security of our staff, other clients or the client themselves. Some examples include:

• Acts of aggression, harassment, intimidation or physical violence, or threats of physical violence.
• Verbal abuse or statements that are offensive, rude, derogatory, defamatory or discriminatory on the grounds of race, religion, sexuality or gender either in person, in direct correspondence or online.
• Rude, confronting or threatening correspondence.
• Threats of harm to self or third parties.
• Stalking, either in person or online.
• Persistent questioning about a staff member’s personal life.
• Contacting staff outside of work, including via social media platforms.
• Audio or video recording meetings or phone calls without the prior consent of all staff or third parties involved.

Unreasonable demands

Unreasonable demands are demands made by a client that have a disproportionate and unreasonable impact on our staff, services, time and/or resources. Some examples of unreasonable demands include:

• Making continued, unwarranted or unrelenting communication with our staff by way of phone calls, attendance at our offices without an appointment (where one is required), letters, emails (including cc’d correspondence) or text messages after being asked not to do so.
• Emotional manipulation with the intention to guilt trip, intimidate, harass or shame.
• Providing or insisting on instructions to purse outcomes that are not possible or appropriate in the particular circumstances of the matter.
• Demanding assistance when the nature of the assistance within the timeframe is unreasonable in the circumstances, or when it has been conveyed that the assistance is not warranted.

Zero tolerance

JusticeNet has a zero tolerance policy towards instances of harm, abuse or threats directed at our staff, regardless of a client’s stress, anxiety or frustration. Any conduct of this nature will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis taking into consideration relevant legal obligations regarding work, health and safety. We reserve our rights to terminate our engagement with clients whose conduct is unreasonable, including ending a phone call or meeting with those clients.

If you have any questions about this policy, you may contact admin@justicenet.org.au