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Interactions between a "bad tempered" manager and "difficult" supervisor were "a mutually driven personality clash" rather than bullying, a court has found in rejecting a $6.8 million damages claim, with costs.

"Overall, despite some reservations, I am not persuaded that any inappropriate behaviour of [the manager] was deliberate, ongoing (as opposed to situational conflict within a difficult interpersonal relationship) or that these clashes were a cause of any psychological condition suffered by [the supervisor]," Victorian County Court Judge Andrew Fraatz found.

The Symal Structures site supervisor claimed the employer breached both its duty of care and implied contractual obligations to prevent him from being bullied and harassed at work.

He sought damages, including for $6.8 million in economic loss, arguing that by June 2021 the employer knew or ought to have known that he was vulnerable to sustaining psychiatric injury...