Recently there has been a lot of media coverage of incidents of workplace bullying. In one case the workplace bullying lead to the death by suicide of a young person. This has highlighted the need for employees to take greater care in dealing with bullying in the Workplace.

What is workplace bullying?

It may be direct or indirect, verbal or physical, or some form of negative interaction between one or more persons against another or others. In this context, bullying behaviour can be regarded as undermining an individual’s right to dignity.

The following behaviours may constitute bullying:

• Manipulation and/or intimidation
• Belittling remarks
• Unreasonable persistent criticism
• Loud and aggressive attacks or more subtle intimidation, e.g. shouting and throwing objects, constant criticism of a trivial nature, or verbal and physical abuse
• Deliberate isolation of the employee from colleagues
• Refusing to delegate work to the employee or the withholding of information that the employee needs to perform their job, or removal of responsibility and/or imposing menial tasks
• Horseplay in the workplace where the “joke” is based on sex, race, religion, physical appearance or disability.

An isolated incident of behaviour is not considered to be bullying. Business processes such as implementation of organisational change, restructuring or downsizing are not incidents of bullying. Bullying is not always a “management down” issue, but is also observed in peer groups and in subordinate to supervisor situations.

What are your Responsibilities as an Employer?

As an employer you are required to comply with the following:

• Occupational Health and Safety legislation – Employers must provide a safe work environment for their employees.
• Anti-discrimination legislation – Where the discriminatory behaviour includes an attribute covered by the legislation and involves bullying, unless all reasonable precautions have been taken, an employer may be vicariously liable. Individual employees may also be liable.
• Common law – an employer’s duty of care. If the employer could “reasonably foresee” the risk of harm to the employee and does nothing to prevent it, the employee may bring a civil law claim in tort for negligence.
• Industrial relations – The Fair Work Act prohibits unfair dismissal or unlawful dismissal. Where an employee “resigns” as a result of bullying a tribunal may be asked to determine whether in fact the employee had no option but to resign in the circumstances.

Preventing bullying

• Develop a policy which makes it absolutely clear to your workers that workplace bullying will not be tolerated.
• Develop a procedure that you will follow to deal with incidents of bullying. Your procedure can outline formal as well as informal ways of dealing with bullying.
• Communicate the process for dealing with allegations of bullying and that the consequences of substantiated allegations are known to all your workers
• Provide training to all your workers in recognizing the signs of bullying, and in techniques to deal with workplace bullying whether it is directed towards themselves or others.

Responding to Bullying

• Do not wait until someone reports bullying. If you see it, act on it.
• Treat all matters seriously – Take all complaints seriously.
• Act promptly – Deal with complaints fairly, courteously and in a timely manner.
• Non-victimisation – Ensure that anyone who raises issues of bullying is not going to be victimised. The person about whom the complaint is made as well as any witnesses must also be protected from victimisation.
• Support for all parties – ensure that all parties involved are supported through the process of investigation. Refer them to your employee assistance program if necessary.
• Neutrality – Remain impartial through the investigation process.
• Communication (of process and outcomes) – Keep all parties involved informed on the process and the outcomes.
• Confidentiality – An accusation of bullying can be potentially defamatory, especially if confidentiality is not observed and a person’s reputation is unfairly damaged. Discussions, information and records related to complaints should remain factual and confidential.
• Documentation – All formal investigations should be documented. Records of all informal investigations should also be maintained.

Options for Remedies

Part of the remedial process may include some form of conflict resolution training or counselling. It is important that the process include discussions where individuals take responsibility for their actions and for changing their behaviour.

The organization should determine appropriate action as a result of investigation. If someone has a complaint made against them and is found to have bullied the complainer, disciplinary action may be necessary. The disciplinary action should depend on the circumstances of the case, but can range from counselling the offender to termination of the offender’s employment.

Useful Links

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference - Office for Employment Relations.
(Subscribe to the free newsletter to receive the latest information, advice & workshop dates)

>> www.employmentrelations.catholic.org.au

Catholic Commission for Employment Relations
(NSW and ACT employers: Ph (02) 9390 5255)

>> www.ccer.catholic.org.au

Fair Work Australia (Details of modern awards)

>> www.fairwork.gov.au

Need more help?

Contact Jane or Sue on (03) 9663 1775 or email us at oeradvisor@catholic.org.au

Do you have general employment issues or questions that you would like to see in future editions of The Swag? Drop us an email!

Susan O’Connor, Director
Office for Employment Relations