Bullying
Bullying at work is repeated unreasonable behaviour towards you that creates a risk to your health or safety. The Fair Work Commission, and for WA state-system workers the WAIRC, can order it to stop. Here is how the law works and what else you can do.
Am I Being Bullied At Work?
We all have distinct memories of the school yard bully, but what happens when bullying transitions past childhood and into the workplace? When does it go further than competitive behaviours in the workplace so that it can be defined as bullying at work?
Under s 789FD of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), you are bullied at work if, while you are at work, an individual or a group repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards you (or a group of workers you belong to), and that behaviour creates a risk to your health or safety. The WA state law uses the same words (s 51BI of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA)).
So there are three things to show: the behaviour was repeated (a single incident, however serious, is not bullying in this sense), it was unreasonable, and it created a risk to your health or safety, including your mental health. Depending on the circumstances, behaviour like the following can be bullying:
- Belittling conduct
- Swearing or yelling directed at you
- Humiliating comments
- Spreading of malicious rumours
- Teasing
- Aggressive or intimidating behaviour
- Unreasonable work expectations
- Physical intimidation (e.g., invading personal space, slamming objects on your desk)
- Daily interference with or undermining of your work
- Attempts to incite others to victimise you
- Threats of violence (explicit or implied)
- Deliberately excluding you from work-related activities
- Withholding vital information
- Setting unreasonable timelines or constantly changing deadlines
- Assigning tasks unreasonably below or beyond your skill level
- Denying access to necessary resources
- Changing work arrangements to deliberately inconvenience you
- Excessive scrutiny of your work
What Is Not Classified As Bullying?
Any behaviour that is considered to be reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner is not considered to be bullying as defined by the Fair Work Act.
Reasonable management action refers to legitimate and appropriate actions taken by managers or supervisors in the course of their duties. These actions, when carried out in a reasonable manner, are not considered bullying, even if they cause stress or discomfort to an employee.
Examples of reasonable management action may include:
- Performance appraisals
- Ongoing meetings to address underperformance
- Counselling or disciplining a worker for misconduct
- Modifying a worker's duties, including by transferring or redeploying the worker
- Investigating alleged misconduct
- Lawfully denying a worker a benefit in relation to their employment
- Lawfully refusing an employee permission to return to work due to a medical condition
The Commission has described reasonable management action in broad terms. Broadly, the action should be:
- lawful;
- justified by the circumstances; and
- carried out in a manner that is not irrational, absurd or ridiculous.
When determining if management action is reasonable, the Commission will consider:
- The circumstances that led to and created the need for the management action
- The circumstances while the management action was being taken
- The consequences that flowed from the management action
The test is whether the management action was reasonable, not whether it could have been undertaken in a more reasonable or more acceptable manner. Management actions do not need to be perfect or ideal to be considered reasonable.
Here are some examples:
- In one case, a manager's actions in holding one-on-one meetings with an employee about performance and minimum standards were considered reasonable management action, even though the employee perceived the manager's manner as rude and belittling.
- In another case, implementing a performance improvement plan (PIP) was considered reasonable management action when shortcomings in an employee's performance had been identified over a considerable period and brought to the employee's attention through documented performance development assessments.
- However, in a different case, management action was not considered reasonable when guidelines on monitoring and mentoring weren't followed, feedback wasn't provided during the process, and insensitive action was taken by continuing to deliver criticism via letters despite the employee's known sensitivities.
What Steps Can I Take To Stop Bullying?
1. Raise it at work
If you are being bullied at work, we usually recommend first trying to resolve it with your employer by making a written complaint under its bullying or grievance policy. Keep a copy.
Making a complaint about your employment is a workplace right under the Fair Work Act. It is unlawful for your employer to take adverse action against you, such as dismissing you or demoting you, because you complained. If that happens, see General Protections.
2. Keep a record
Write down each incident: the date, what was said or done, who did it and who saw it. Keep emails and messages. See your GP if it is affecting your health; their notes help show the risk to your health, which is one of the things you must prove.
3. Apply for an order to stop the bullying
If the bullying continues, you can ask the Fair Work Commission, or for WA state-system workers the WAIRC, for an order to stop it. The details are below. A stop bullying order is about the future: it cannot award you compensation, and you must still be working there, because the Commission can only act if there is a risk the bullying will continue.
4. Consider the other claims bullying can support
Bullying is often part of a larger problem, and other claims can carry compensation:
- Discrimination or sexual harassment. If the bullying is because of your sex, race, age, disability or another protected attribute, or is sexual in nature, discrimination and harassment laws apply. See where to make a discrimination complaint and sexual harassment.
- General protections. If you were bullied, demoted or pushed out because you complained or exercised another workplace right.
- Unfair or constructive dismissal. If the bullying forced you to resign, you may have been dismissed in law. The time limit is 21 days at the Fair Work Commission (28 days at the WAIRC for state-system employees). See Unfair Dismissal.
- Workers’ compensation. A psychological injury caused by bullying at work may be compensable.
MKI Legal can also negotiate with your employer on your behalf. A lawyer's letter often gets a response that an employee's complaint did not. We regularly advise employees who are bullied at work, and we regularly run claims that have a bullying element.
Stop Bullying Order Application With Fair Work?
Who can apply. A worker who reasonably believes they have been bullied at work can apply (s 789FC). Worker has the same broad meaning as in work health and safety law, so it includes employees, contractors, labour hire workers, apprentices, students on work experience and volunteers.
Which workplaces. The bullying must happen while you are at work in a constitutionally-covered business (s 789FD): in practice a company that trades or deals in finance, the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority, or a business in a Territory. A sole trader, a partnership of individuals or a WA government department is not covered. Whether a WA council is covered is unresolved.
How to apply. Lodge Form F72 with the Fair Work Commission. The fee is $92.70 for 2026-27 and can be waived for serious hardship (fees and costs). There is no time limit, but the longer ago the bullying, the harder it is to show it will continue.
What happens next. The Commission must start dealing with your application within 14 days (s 789FE). It gives your employer and the people named a chance to respond, and usually tries mediation or a conference first. If that does not resolve things, it holds a hearing.
Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission
Some workers are not in the national system, so the Fair Work Commission's bullying jurisdiction usually does not reach them. They include people working for the WA public sector, for a WA local government, and for an employer that is not a trading or financial company, such as a sole trader, a partnership or some not-for-profits. See am I covered by the WA state system? to check.
Since 20 June 2022 these workers can apply to the WA Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC) for a stop bullying order under Part II Division 3AA of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA). The rules closely follow the Fair Work Act:
- Who can apply: a worker who reasonably believes they have been bullied at work (s 51BJ). Worker includes employees, contractors, labour hire workers, apprentices, students and volunteers (s 51BH). You must have been working for the business when the bullying happened.
- The test: repeated unreasonable behaviour creating a risk to health or safety, other than reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner (s 51BI).
- No time limit for applying, and the WAIRC must start dealing with the application within 14 days (s 51BK). The filing fee is $50.
- What it considers: any investigation into the bullying and its outcome, and the grievance procedures available to you (s 51BN). The WAIRC may ask your employer to investigate first.
- Orders: anything appropriate to stop the bullying, but not compensation (s 51BM). The worker must still be there: the WAIRC has held that a worker who is leaving the employer cannot show a risk the bullying will continue (Nicholson v Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage [2026] WAIRC 00029).
- The wrong forum: the WAIRC has dismissed applications against employers that are companies in the national system. Those workers go to the Fair Work Commission.
It's crucial to correctly identify whether to apply to the Fair Work Commission or the WAIRC. For more on the WA system, see the WA state system.
Remedies With A Stop Bullying Order
If the Commission (or the WAIRC) is satisfied that you were bullied at work and that there is a risk the bullying will continue, it can make any order it considers appropriate to prevent the bullying (s 789FF of the Fair Work Act; s 51BM of the Industrial Relations Act). Orders have included directions to stop the conduct, to have no contact, to change reporting lines, and for the employer to adopt anti-bullying policies and training.
Neither commission can order the payment of money on a stop bullying application. Compensation is not available unless an order is later breached.
A person who contravenes a Fair Work Commission stop bullying order breaches a civil remedy provision (s 789FG), which can be enforced in court with penalties. In the WA system, a breach of a WAIRC order is enforced in the Industrial Magistrates Court, which can order penalties and compensation for loss or injury caused by the breach (s 51BP).
Previous Stop Bullying Decisions
For an idea of how a stop bullying order may assist you, some cases are summarised below.
Two employees (CF and NW) of a small real estate business filed applications for orders to stop bullying against a property manager (ED).
The alleged bullying behaviours included:
- Belittling conduct
- Swearing and yelling
- Use of inappropriate language
- Daily interference and undermining of the applicants' work
- Physical intimidation, including "slamming" objects on the applicants' desks
- Attempts to incite the applicants to victimise other staff members
- Threats of violence
The employer initially denied or qualified many allegations, but ultimately conceded that bullying conduct had occurred in the workplace.
The Commission found that repeated unreasonable behaviour had taken place, creating a risk to health and safety. This met the definition of workplace bullying under the Fair Work Act.
Orders were made with the consent of all parties to:
- Prevent CF, NW and ED from approaching each other or attending each other's workplaces
- Establish anti-bullying policies and procedures
- Implement workplace behaviour training
- Clarify reporting arrangements
The orders were to remain in place for 24 months.
The parties were de-identified in the published decision to support the consent arrangement and facilitate ongoing working relationships.
The applicant (Bayly) was an executive director at a TAFE. The applicant made an application for a stop bullying order. Concurrently, the employer was conducting an investigation into alleged misconduct by the applicant. The applicant claimed that this investigation only arose after she lodged a complaint regarding another staff member and as such constituted bullying conduct.
Prior to the hearing of the anti-bullying application, the applicant applied for, and successfully obtained, an interim order halting the disciplinary investigation or termination of her employment.
The applicant (Ari) applied for a stop bullying order for alleged bullying by his uncle at his workplace. It was alleged that intimidating behaviours occurred as well as verbal disparagement.
An interim order was made to prevent further escalation of the behaviours into potential acts of physical violence. The order required Ari and his uncle:
- Not to communicate directly with one another at work; and
- Not to cause another person to relay disparaging comments or messages to each other; and
- Not to come within 10m of one another.
Further, the workplace was ordered to implement workplace bullying training, policies and procedures.
Free Discussion
If you are being bullied at work, we can help you work out whether a stop bullying order, a complaint, or a claim for compensation fits your situation. Contact us for a free and confidential initial discussion.