Workplace bullying is another evolving area of the law. Whilst there are not yet any formal laws to deal with this area, it is generally dealt with under the existing scope of anti discrimination and employment law.

Under Queensland legislation, bullying is repeated behaviour (other than sexual harassment) that:

• is unwelcome and unsolicited;

• the person considers to be offensive, intimidating, humiliating or threatening; and

• a reasonable person would consider to be offensive, humiliating, intimidating or threatening.

Every employer should have a policy to deal with this issue which should be communicated to their employees. Bullying as such is not covered under the anti-discrimination legislation. The only way the Commission could accept a complaint about bullying is if it is linked to one of the grounds covered by the legislation, for example, where the bullying is based on a person’s impairment or sex.

Workplace bullying is considered by the government to be a workplace health and safety matter. There is a code on workplace bullying in each state and bullying is considered to be a breach of workplace health and safety legislation for which there is strict liability. A complaint can be made to the Division of Workplace Health and Safety who may investigate the matter and may prosecute.

Alternatively, if the bullying results in termination of employment then an unfair dismissal claim may be able to be made in an industrial relations commission. Otherwise, the most common way of dealing with workplace bullying is by the lodgment of a claim for statutory workers compensation and a common law claim for damages for negligence through the WorkCover system.