Workplace Bullying Resources and Advice For Employees and Employers

Better Understanding Workplace Bullying – For Employees and Employers

• It seems that there is rarely a week that goes by when an article doesn’t make its way into the media in relation to allegations of workplace bullying and harassment in one or more industry sectors.
• The issues being alleged range from circumstances such as perceived bullying due to the commencement of under performance processes, exclusion from team communications, personal threats and a range of other situations.
• Sometimes, the employee isn’t sure about what’s happening to them – they might feel unsettled or upset/stressed but not sure if its bullying, harassment or something else and if they are, what can they possibly do about it.

Some of the typical concerns and questions raised include:

• Am I being bullied or not?
• What do I do if I think I am being bullied?
• If I have tried to address my concerns and nothing’s changed (or its even getting worse) what can I do?
• Can I get help and if so from whom and how much will it cost?
• One of my employees has claimed workplace bullying against another – what are my obligations towards both people?
• I am a contractor – do I have any rights to assistance via the Fair Work Commission?
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  • As a starting point, employees can look to the Fair Work Commission ‘Anti-bullying Benchbook’ can be accessed via the following link:

  https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/documents/benchbookresources/anti-bullying/anti-bullying-benchbook.pdf

• The guide provides employers and employees with a lot of contemporary and relevant guidance through a combination of definitions, examples, case studies and related links to help understand the obligations and expectations of them and how these types of matters can be resolved should they arise.
• The key sections in the guide include:
• What is workplace bullying (and what isn’t)
• Who is covered by the workplace laws? This looks at things like employees, contractors, people working for volunteer organisations etc.
• When is a worker being bullied at work (and what is, for example, reasonable management action?)
• How can someone make an application to the Fair Work Commission to have their concerns heard?
• What happens at the Commission?
• What can the Commission do in cases of workplace bullying?
• If, after either considering the guidance from the FWC or based on their own assessment, an employee believes that they have been bullied or harassed, they should raise the allegations with their manager or other appropriate person within the organisation, in accordance with the employer’s policy/procedural guidance.
• While often the allegations will be addressed internally, sometimes the matter is referred outside of the organisation to an independent workplace investigator. Typically, this occurs when:
• There are no suitable internal resources available to undertake the investigation in a timely and competent manner.
  
• There are actual or perceived potential conflicts of interest if internal resources are used to investigate.
• The matters are extremely complex or unusual in nature.
• Where the allegations are to be addressed independently from the organisation, HBA Consulting has almost two decades of experience in designing and undertaking professionally constructed workplace investigations across the public, private and not for profit sectors.
• Our unique and robust internal Quality Assurance processes mean that we ensure that the final report is evidence based and can be relied upon by decision makers.