Workplace bullying is verbal, physical, social or psychological abuse by your employer (or manager), another person or group of people at work. Everyone has the right to a workplace free from bullying.
Workplace bullying can happen in any type of workplace, from offices to shops, cafes, restaurants, schools, hospitals, workshops, community groups and government organisations.
Workplace bullying can happen to volunteers, work experience students, interns, apprentices, casual and permanent employees.
Some types of workplace bullying are criminal offences. If you have experienced violence, assault and stalking you can report it directly to the police.
- behaving aggressively towards others
- teasing or playing practical jokes
- pressuring someone to behave inappropriately
- excluding someone from work-related events
- unreasonable work demands.
Dealing with bullying in the workplace
1. Keep a private record
It is a good idea to make sure you have records in case you ever need to report the matter, write up some notes after the incident, while the details are fresh in your mind. Note the date, time, what happened, who was involved, where it happened and how it made you feel.
2. Check your workplace bullying or harassment policy
You might have been given a copy of this at the start of your employment, or it may be available through a workplace portal. You can also request a copy from your HR department. This should explain who you can talk to and how these matters are handled in your workplace.
3. Ask for the bullying behaviour to stop
It's big step to accuse a co-worker of bullying behaviour, so it’s understandable to feel nervous about explaining the situation to your employer. Remember that it is your employer’s responsibility to make sure everyone feels safe and happy at work.
Talk to the person who is displaying the bullying behaviour, and explain that this is unfair or offensive. Make sure to act professional and explain your position in a respectful manner. If you feel unsafe talking to this person, you could ask someone else to be in the meeting with you, such as a colleague you trust or someone from the human resources department.
4. Take it to your manager or HR
If you’re not comfortable talking to the person directly, you can have a chat to your manager or supervisor about the next steps.
If your manager is the person who is bullying you, or you don’t feel safe talking to your manager directly, you can take your concerns to someone more senior than them, or directly to human resources. HR will usually attempt to resolve the matter through mediation, you can use your notes as a reference to clearly outline your concerns.
5. Getting Red Union involved
If you experienced bullying of any kind in your workplace and need support from our team, you can complete a member support form through your member dashboard and we will assign a case manager to assist with your matter. Please follow these steps:
- Log in to your member dashboard
- Click on "Member Support Form"
- Complete the form and a member of our friendly team will be in touch within 24 business hours.
Discrimination in the workplace
Bullying is different from discrimination. The Fair Work Act prohibits an employer from taking adverse action against an employee for discriminatory reasons, including their sex, race, religion or gender. Adverse action can include firing or demoting someone.
Bullying doesn't have to be related to a person’s or group's characteristics. Adverse action doesn’t have to have happened for bullying to occur.
Find out more about discrimination at Protection from discrimination at work.
Reasonable management action
Reasonable management action that's carried out in a reasonable way is not bullying. An employer or manager can:
- make decisions about poor performance
- take disciplinary action
- direct and control the way work is carried out.
Management action that isn't carried out in a reasonable way may be considered bullying. If you are unsure if your matter has been dealt with reasonably, please complete a member support form through your member dashboard.
Protection from bullying in the workplace
The laws to stop bullying under the Fair Work Act only apply to certain workers in Australia. A worker includes:
- an employee
- a contractor or subcontractor
- an outworker
- an apprentice or a trainee
- an intern
- a student gaining work experience
- some volunteers.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is the national workplace relations tribunal that deals with applications to stop bullying at work under the Fair Work Act.
To find out whether you're covered by the national anti-bullying laws, visit the FWC website.
If these laws don’t cover you, each state and territory has a local workplace health and safety body, which regulates and investigates breaches of laws about workplace health and safety, including bullying and harassment.
- Australian Capital Territory: Work Safe ACT
- New South Wales: SafeWork NSW
- Northern Territory: NT WorkSafe
- Queensland: Workplace Health and Safety Queensland
- South Australia: SafeWork SA
- Tasmania: WorkSafe Tasmania
- Victoria: WorkSafe Victoria
- Western Australia: WorkSafe WA
Safe Work Australia 
is the statutory agency leading the development of national policy to improve work health and safety and workers' compensation arrangements across Australia.
Comcare (Commonwealth) works with employees and employers to minimise the impact of harm in the workplace.