Work-related bullying

Workplace bullying is repeated unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety.

Repeated behaviour refers to the persistent nature of the behaviour and can involve a range of behaviours over time.

Unreasonable behaviour means behaviour that a reasonable person, having considered the circumstances, would see as unreasonable, including behaviour that is victimising, humiliating, intimidating or threatening.

Bullying can impact an organisation through reduced productivity, staff turnover and legal costs.

The Preventing and Responding Bullying Code of Practice sets out a range of measures on how to prevent and manage workplace bullying.

If you are under 18, bullying and violence may also be child abuse. For more information on child abuse visit Lawstuff

Examples of behaviour, whether intentional or unintentional, that may be workplace bullying if they are repeated, unreasonable and creates a risk to health and safety include but are not limited to:

Discrimination or sexual harassment

Unreasonable behaviour may involve unlawful discrimination or sexual harassment, which in isolation (not repeated) is not workplace bullying. Discrimination on the basis of a protected trait in employment may be unlawful under anti-discrimination, equal employment opportunity, workplace relations and human rights laws.

Differences of opinion and disagreements are also generally not workplace bullying. However, in some cases, conflict that is not managed may escalate to the point where it becomes workplace bullying.

Advice and assistance on how to deal with discrimination or sexual harassment can be provided by:

Physical

Workplace violence can be any incident where a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances arising out of, or in the course of their work.

If your allegation of workplace bullying involves assault or threats of assault, we recommend that you report it to WorkSafe ACT and that you also contact the police to report the incident.

The National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service offers 24/7 support for people impacted by sexual assault and violence. They offer an after-hours crisis line 1800 737 732 and have a local area service directory.

Any form of aggressive behaviour is not ok, and everyone has the right to a safe work environment. See more information on violence and aggression.

Verbal

The verbal aspects of bullying can include:

  • yelling
  • verbal abuse including swearing
  • threats
  • ridicule
  • laughing at or teasing in a derogatory manner
  • name calling
  • bad mouthing a worker
  • spreading rumours about a worker
  • gossiping
  • telling lies to make a worker look bad.

Social

Social aspects of workplace bullying can include:

  • deliberately and consistently shutting another person out of conversations
  • not talking to another worker at all
  • leaving a worker out of planned social events when all other workers are attending
  • everyone leaving a room when a particular worker enters the room
  • consistently moving seats when a particular worker sits down beside them
  • moving and hiding a worker's personal belongings (for example their cup) to deliberately frustrate them and finding amusement in their distress.

What is not considered to be bullying

Actions taken by a manager in a reasonable way, such as reasonable management action, isn’t bullying. Such actions include:

  • setting realistic and achievable performance goals, standards and deadlines
  • fair and appropriate rostering and allocation of working hours
  • transferring a worker to another area or role for operational reasons
  • deciding not to select a worker for promotion where a fair and transparent process is followed
  • informing a worker about unsatisfactory work performance in an honest, fair and constructive way
  • informing a worker about unreasonable behaviour in an objective and confidential way
  • implementing organisational changes or restructuring
  • taking disciplinary action, including suspending or terminating employment where appropriate or justified in the circumstances.

Information on reasonable management action, including a best practice guide, can be found on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website.

What can I do?

When you are being bullied it's important that you know that there are things you can do and people who can help. You have the right to a safe and healthy workplace free from bullying and harassment.

  • First up, check that what is occurring to you is workplace bullying.
  • See if your work has a workplace bullying policy. If so, does it have a process you can follow or people you should talk to?
  • If you feel comfortable, try talking to the person who is displaying the bullying behaviour and explain that the behaviour is unfair or offensive. If it is not safe to do so or you do not feel comfortable talking to this person, you can ask for someone else to be in the meeting with you, for example a work friend who you trust.
  • Speak to your supervisor or manager (if your supervisor or manager isn’t the person bullying you) or someone more senior than them in your team. You could also speak to someone in your human resources or WHS department.
  • Make a written report or complaint to your employer about the bullying. This can be an email explaining what has happened, what you have tried to do about it, and who you have spoken to.

It’s a good idea to keep a diary to record incidents including how you were feeling at the time and if anyone else witnessed the bullying. This makes it easier to show or prove specific examples of the bullying behaviour.

Keep any related communications including abusive letters, screenshots of social media, SMS or emails. We also encourage you to ask witnesses if they will support you when speaking to someone.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has a free online training course on ‘Difficult Conversations in the Workplace’.

More formal steps - Psychosocial complaint form

If your employer does not do anything about the bullying, then it may be time to consider further action.

If you want to raise the issue with WorkSafe ACT, firstly read the ‘Assistance from WorkSafe ACT’, which includes information on what we cannot do and what you can expect from us.

If the bullying involved physical or mental harm and you had to take time off, you may be able to claim workers’ compensation. If this has happened, you need to tell your employer as soon as possible and ensure sure they tell their insurer.

The role of employers and leaders

Workplace bullying is best dealt with by taking steps to prevent it from happening and responding quickly if it does occur. The longer the bullying behaviour continues, the harder it becomes to repair working relationships and the greater the risk to health and safety.

Although bullying is often seen as an individual issue, research has shown that there are a number of factors which may increase the risk of workplace bullying occurring. The following characteristics can alert employers and leaders of potential WHS risks in the workplace:

  • presence of work stressors, such as high job demands, limited job control and organisational change
  • leadership styles, such as strict behaviour that does not allow workers to be involved in decision-making, little or no guidance provided to workers or demeaning behaviour
  • systems of work, such as a lack of resources or training, inappropriate work scheduling and unreasonable performance measures or timeframes
  • poor workplace relationship including poor communication, low levels of support or work group hostility
  • workforce characteristics of groups of workers who may be at more risk of workplace bullying. This can include young workers, apprentices, workers in a minority group because of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual preferences, casual workers, workers on return to work plans, volunteers or work experience students and interns.

Employers and leaders can minimise workplace bullying by taking a proactive approach that involves:

  • early identification of unreasonable behaviour and situations likely to increase the risk of workplace bullying occurring
  • implementing control measures to manage the risks
  • monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the control measures.

Further guidance on risk management is provided in the Code of Practice: Work Health and Safety (Preventing and Responding to Bullying) Code of Practice 2012 (No 1).

Responsibilities of bystanders

A bystander could be anyone who sees or otherwise becomes aware of behaviour that appears worthy of comment or action.

If someone in your workplace is experiencing harassment or bullying, you should speak up. And only if it is safe and appropriate to do so, call out the behaviour on the spot.

Speak to your supervisor or manager (if your supervisor or manager isn’t the person doing the bullying) or someone more senior than them. You could also speak to someone in your human resources or WHS department.

We all have a responsibility under Work Health Safety legislation to create a safe and healthy work environment.

Factsheet - bullying response service standards

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