9.Workplace Bullying is a Psychosocial Hazard— What It Is, Why It Matters, and How Australian Businesses Manage It
- Rachel Mackay
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
What is workplace bullying as a psychosocial hazard under Australian WHS law and what are the employers obligations?
Workplace bullying is a recognised psychosocial hazard under the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice 2024. It is defined as repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed at a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. Bullying is one of the most serious psychosocial hazards in Australian workplaces, with significant legal exposure across WHS law, Fair Work Act stop bullying orders, and workers compensation. Under the WHS Act 2011, businesses must identify, assess and control this hazard using the hierarchy of controls.
What Is Workplace Bullying?
Workplace bullying is repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed at a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to their health and safety.
Two elements are required under Australian law:
Repeated — a single incident of unreasonable behaviour does not generally constitute bullying under WHS or Fair Work definitions. It may constitute harassment, discrimination or misconduct under other frameworks — but bullying requires a pattern of behaviour.
Unreasonable — behaviour that a reasonable person would recognise as unreasonable in the circumstances. This is an objective test, not a subjective one. "I didn't mean it that way" or "I was just joking" does not determine whether behaviour is unreasonable.
Risk to health and safety — the behaviour must create a risk to the psychological or physical health and safety of the target.
What bullying is not: reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner. A manager who gives feedback, sets performance expectations, conducts disciplinary processes or makes decisions about work allocation is not bullying a worker — provided these actions are carried out reasonably, consistently and with procedural fairness.
The SafeWize Psychosocial Hazard Register rates bullying at 5 — Severe inherent risk — the highest possible rating — reflecting the serious and lasting psychological harm bullying causes, the significant legal exposure it creates, and its tendency to spread through organisational culture when left unaddressed. Safe Work Australia's psychosocial hazard framework sets out the obligations businesses have to prevent and respond to bullying, and WorkSafe QLD's small business mental health resources include practical guidance for smaller operators managing bullying risks without a dedicated HR team.
What Workplace Bullying Looks Like
Bullying takes many forms. Some are obvious. Many are not.
Direct verbal bullying: A manager who regularly criticises a worker in front of colleagues, uses demeaning language, or raises their voice in a way that intimidates.
Exclusion and isolation: A group of workers who consistently exclude a colleague from social events, team discussions and informal information sharing — deliberately and repeatedly.
Undermining: A senior worker who takes credit for a junior worker's ideas, withholds information needed to do the job, or sets the worker up to fail by giving impossible tasks with inadequate resources.
Unreasonable workload: Deliberately assigning an unreasonable volume of work as a way of making the target feel inadequate or creating grounds for performance management.
Humiliation: Making degrading comments, sharing embarrassing information, or creating situations designed to embarrass a worker in front of others.
Cyberbullying: Unreasonable behaviour conducted through digital channels — work emails, messaging apps, social media — that meets the repeated and unreasonable behaviour threshold.
The Legal Landscape — Multiple Frameworks Apply
Workplace bullying in Australia is regulated under several overlapping frameworks, which means the legal exposure for businesses that fail to address it is significant.
WHS Act 2011 and Code of Practice 2024: Bullying is a recognised psychosocial hazard. PCBUs must identify, assess and control it. Failure to do so can result in WHS improvement notices, fines and prosecution.
Fair Work Act 2009 — Stop Bullying Orders: A worker who is being bullied at work can apply to the Fair Work Commission for a stop bullying order. The Commission can make orders requiring the bullying to stop and specifying what actions must be taken. Failure to comply with a stop bullying order is a serious offence.
Workers Compensation: Psychological injury caused by workplace bullying is compensable in all Australian states and territories. Bullying-related workers compensation claims are among the most costly and complex claims in the system.
Anti-discrimination Law: Where bullying is connected to a protected attribute — race, sex, disability, religion, age — it may also constitute unlawful discrimination or harassment under federal or state anti-discrimination legislation.
Common Law: In serious cases, a worker who suffers psychological injury from workplace bullying may be able to pursue common law damages for negligence.
Three Workplaces Managing Workplace Bullying
Case Study 1 — A Café
A café with eight staff has a head chef who has been with the business for four years. He runs a high-pressure kitchen and regularly humiliates junior kitchen staff when orders back up — yelling, name-calling and making personal comments about their competence in front of the whole team. Three kitchen staff have left in the past 12 months. The current junior chef has started calling in sick on days the head chef is rostered. The owner is aware but has not acted because "he's the best chef in town and the kitchen runs."
The hazard: Repeated, unreasonable verbal behaviour from a person in authority, causing psychological harm and driving staff turnover. The owner's inaction has implicitly condoned the behaviour — creating legal exposure under the WHS Act and potential Fair Work stop bullying order risk.
The control applied — Level 1 Elimination + Level 5 Administrative: The owner meets with the head chef and delivers a formal written warning documenting the specific behaviour, the impact on staff, and the expectation that it will not continue. A behaviour agreement is signed. SOP-09 (Bullying) is activated and communicated to all kitchen staff with a clear reporting pathway that bypasses the head chef. A follow-up meeting with affected staff is held to confirm the process and make clear that reports will be taken seriously. The head chef is placed on a performance improvement plan with weekly check-ins.
If the behaviour continues, the owner has committed in writing to initiating a termination
process — eliminating the source of the bullying from the organisation.
Residual risk: Medium (3) — the behaviour has been formally addressed but requires ongoing monitoring. If it continues, elimination of the hazard source is the next step.
Case Study 2 — A Pharmacy
A pharmacy with five staff has a long-term dispensary technician who has worked there for nine years. Over the past two years she has gradually isolated a newer pharmacist — excluding her from the staff WhatsApp group, giving her incorrect information about stock locations, and making comments to the pharmacy assistant about the pharmacist's "attitude" loud enough for the pharmacist to hear. The pharmacist has documented the incidents but has not raised it formally because she does not want to cause conflict in a small team.
The hazard: Subtle, persistent exclusion and undermining by a peer — meeting the repeated and unreasonable threshold — in a small team where the power dynamic (seniority and longevity) makes raising it feel unsafe.
The control applied — Level 3 Isolation + Level 5 Administrative: The pharmacy owner, on becoming aware of the documented incidents, restructures rostering so the two workers overlap minimally while the process is underway. A formal investigation is conducted by an external HR advisor. The technician is issued with a formal warning and a behaviour agreement. A whole-team meeting introduces SOP-09 (Bullying) and SOP-05 (Workplace Inclusion and Respect), making clear that the owner takes these obligations seriously. The pharmacist is given a direct check-in with the owner monthly for the following six months.
Residual risk: Low (2) — the behaviour is formally addressed, the target has a direct support pathway, and the isolation reduces ongoing exposure during the correction period.
Case Study 3 — A Secondary School Administration Team
A secondary school has an administration team of six. The most senior administrator — in the role for 15 years — has developed a habit of publicly correcting junior administrators in front of teachers and parents, sighing loudly when asked for help, and sending terse, critical emails copied to the principal when she disagrees with a junior's decision. A newer administrator has started crying in the bathroom. She has not reported it because she has seen a previous complaint about the same administrator go nowhere.
The hazard: Repeated humiliation and undermining by a senior worker, compounded by a previous failed complaint creating a culture where reporting is not seen as safe or effective.
The control applied — Level 2 Substitution + Level 4 Engineering: The school principal substitutes the previous informal complaint handling process with a formal, documented investigation process conducted by an external advisor. The senior administrator is placed on a formal performance improvement plan with specific behavioural expectations and a 90-day review. An anonymous reporting channel is introduced — a QR code in the staff room links to a form reviewed by the principal directly. All formal complaint records are stored centrally and reviewed quarterly to identify patterns. The engineering of an independent reporting channel removes the barrier of perceived futility.
Residual risk: Low (2) — the behaviour is formally addressed and the reporting system now has credibility because it bypasses the informal pathway that previously failed.
The Hierarchy of Controls Applied to Workplace Bullying
L1 — Eliminate: Where a worker is found to have engaged in bullying, and the behaviour does not change following a formal process, termination eliminates the source of the hazard. This is the appropriate Level 1 control when all other interventions have been exhausted.
L2 — Substitute: Replace informal complaint handling with a formal, documented investigation process. Substitute single-manager reporting structures with independent escalation pathways for bullying complaints.
L3 — Isolate: Physically or operationally separate the target from the source of bullying while the investigation is conducted. Adjusted rosters, work locations or reporting lines reduce ongoing exposure.
L4 — Engineering: Build safe reporting into the work structure — anonymous channels, independent escalation points, regular pulse surveys that surface concerns before they reach crisis point. Mandatory manager training on recognising and responding to bullying.
L5 — Administrative: Implement SOP-09 (Bullying), SOP-18 (Incident Reporting) and SOP-20 (Workplace Investigation). Maintain a zero-tolerance policy that is genuinely enforced. Train all workers and managers on the definition of bullying, reporting pathways and expected behaviour.
L6 — Personal Support: EAP for targets of bullying. Trauma-informed support for workers who have experienced serious bullying. Wellbeing check-ins throughout and after investigation processes.
What You Need to Document
Your risk assessment for bullying must include:
How bullying risk presents in your specific workplace — industry, power dynamics, team structures
Pre-control risk rating
Controls applied at each hierarchy level
Post-control risk rating
Responsible person, monitoring method and review date
Any incident records and investigation outcomes — these are compliance evidence
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the legal definition of workplace bullying in Australia?
Under the Fair Work Act 2009, workplace bullying occurs when a worker or group of workers repeatedly behaves unreasonably toward another worker or group, and that behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. The WHS Act 2011 and Code of Practice 2024 use the same substantive definition. Both require the behaviour to be repeated and unreasonable — a single incident does not constitute bullying under these frameworks, though it may constitute harassment or misconduct under others.
What is a stop bullying order in Australia?
A stop bullying order is an order made by the Fair Work Commission requiring bullying behaviour to stop and specifying what actions must be taken. Any worker who believes they are being bullied at work can apply to the Commission for an order. The Commission can make orders directed at the bully, the employer, or both. Failure to comply with a stop bullying order is a criminal offence.
Is a manager giving negative feedback bullying?
Not necessarily. Reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner — including giving feedback, setting performance expectations, conducting performance reviews, assigning workloads and making decisions about work allocation — is explicitly excluded from the definition of bullying under Australian law. The key questions are whether the action was reasonable and whether it was carried out in a reasonable manner. Screaming at a worker in a performance meeting is not reasonable management action, even if the underlying concern is legitimate.
What should a business do when a bullying complaint is made?
When a bullying complaint is received, the business should: acknowledge receipt promptly, take immediate steps to reduce the target's ongoing exposure to the alleged behaviour, conduct a fair and thorough investigation (ideally using an independent investigator), communicate the outcome to the complainant, implement consequences proportionate to the findings, and document every step. The target should have access to EAP throughout the process. A non-retaliation commitment should be communicated to all parties.
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SafeWize provides practical psychosocial hazard compliance tools for Australian small and medium businesses. This guide is for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Always confirm requirements with your applicable state or territory WHS regulator and seek independent legal advice where required.
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