Employees have two main legal options for stopping bullying in your workplace. Firstly, they can seek assistance from NSW SafeWork inspectors who will undertake a safety investigation. Secondly, they can lodge a bullying claim in the Fair Work Commission which will then trigger a formal process which may include a hearing leading to legal ‘stop bullying’ Orders.
Inspectors from SafeWork NSW can investigate employee claims of bullying at your workplace.
Employees or their union/solicitor are able to lodge claims with the Fair Work Commission seeking formal Orders to stop bullying.
Bullying does happen in many workplaces. However, as a busy manager you may not be aware of it.
Do you know what behaviours cold be recognised as bullying?
Some typical bullying behaviours include:
- offensive, insulting or abusive language directed at a person
- spreading malicious rumours or misinformation
- behaviour or language that frightens, humiliates, belittles or degrades
- criticism delivered with yelling and screaming
- persistent and baseless criticism
- teasing or regularly making someone the brunt of pranks or practical jokes
- inappropriate comments about a person’s appearance or lifestyle
- unreasonably overloading a person with work
- setting timelines that are simply too difficult to achieve
- setting tasks beyond a person’s skill level or unfairly assigning unpleasant tasks
This is not an exhaustive list.
You will need to examine each set of circumstances to determine whether behaviour could constitute bullying.
If you receive a Fair Work application or notification of a bullying investigation from SafeWork NSW see professional assistance as soon as possible.
It is recommended that employers educate employees and supervisory staff on what constitutes bullying as well as workplace harassment.
Employers should also have an internal mechanism for employees to lodge allegations of bullying. It is much better to pick up issues internally rather than through approaches by SafeWork NSW or an employee’s solicitor once they have lodged a bullying application with Fair Work.
Please let me know if you wish to receive the Hunter Employee Relations ‘Employer Guide to Bullying, Harassment & Discrimination in the Workplace’. I will email you a copy.
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Kind Regards
Michael Schmidt
M 0438 129 728
[email protected]
www.hunteremployeerelations.com.au
Industrial Relations - Employment Law - Workplace Performance