Work Bully?


An employee can apply to the Fair Work Commission before consulting with their employer, for an order to compel the bullying to stop.

The laws are treated as civil claims, as opposed to being dealt with under work health and safety law and anti-discrimination law. The challenge with these new laws, as with any new law, is that it will take time through rulings for the business community to get clarity around the subtleties of what constitutes bullying.

So have you ever tossed a document across a table, pulled a face, spoken with a tone at work like you were talking to a naughty child? If so you might be thought of as a bully.

This area has become more topical with the introduction of the fairwork act. 

 What constitutes bullying?

A person or group of people repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards a worker or a group of workers in the workplace and the behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. 

It does not include reasonable and documented performance management of an employee for misconduct and you can still request employees to complete their job tasks and let them know if they are not performing those tasks to the required standard.

Bullying laws won’t apply to your business if you are a partnership, sole trader, state government department and entity or a volunteer association with no employees. 

To avoid ending up at the tribunal telling your side of the story, there are a few simple things that you can do to minimise the risk to your business:

  • Read the Anti-bullying guide on the Fair Work Commissions on there website or contact us.
  • Have an anti bully policy and/or ensure all staff are cognisant of bullying.
  • To avoid complaints from staff about being given work above or below their skill level, consider having job descriptions when employed, and written performance reviews on an annual basis, that confirm the expected skill level and typical tasks required of the role.

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