Despite the many barriers and career risks that a formal complaint of bullying or discrimination involves, legal action by top earning women in corporate Australia is on the increase, reports The Australian Financial Review, 23 December 2008. Deacons partner David Cross says there has been a significant leap in such complaints because there's now a generation of senior women in the workforce, and many of them are more than aware of their rights. "There's been a discernable increase in allegations of bullying made by people predominantly but not exclusively women at senior levels of employment. I think the public awareness of complaints through the media reporting of cases that have been brought has played a significant part in encouraging complaints. Whereas people may have once felt it was necessary to suffer an unpleasant situation in silence, people are now more inclined to say, 'I want to complain or explore the way to compensation,'" says David.

David also notes there may be a plateauing of complaints due to the major financial and emotional impact of legal action. "Notwithstanding all the ingenuity in putting together the claim, the damages are not particularly generous and you can win and finish up with a situation where you get the costs paid," he says. "Most of these actions involve 'he said/she said' evidence which means a tribunal was finding who was the more credible person. It's the kind of thing tribunals don't want to do. I think it's an area of law that will need to be renovated. The statutory law related to discrimination needs to be looked at with a view to better matching it to workers in the 21st century workplace."