The seriousness with which regulators are taking psychosocial hazards means employers should expect any bullying complaint to be investigated, regardless of whether an injury has been sustained, a safety expert says.
It wasn't reasonable to order 47 witnesses to attend a stop-bullying hearing, the Fair Work Commission has ruled, in a decision that clarifies when it will use this discretionary power.
An employee's stop-bullying application contained some "frivolous and vexatious elements", but his allegations about an HR business partner were "highly offensive, indefensible and damaging", the Fair Work Commission has found.
Although a workplace had "clear" interpersonal conflict issues, an employer didn't facilitate a toxic environment that forced a manager to resign, the Fair Work Commission has found.
An employer and its senior leaders didn't bully an executive when they asked her repeatedly to return to the office, and started a performance improvement plan after a client complained about her, the Fair Work Commission has accepted.
An employer constructively dismissed an employee after its HR manager failed to investigate her bullying complaints and instead accused her of misconduct, the Fair Work Commission has found.
After an employer gave undertakings to keep an employee separate from his alleged bullies, and in circumstances where he seemed unlikely to return to work anyway, it wasn't wrong for the Fair Work Commission to dismiss his stop-bullying application, a full bench has ruled.
An email that an employee characterised as "menacing" was in fact "reasonable and appropriate", and every matter that managers raised with him "ought to have been raised", the FWC has found in rejecting his stop-bullying application.
An employee's bullying allegations were reasonable management actions, the Fair Work Commission has accepted, but it has nonetheless urged an employer to improve its complaints handling process.
When HR and other leaders are addressing interpersonal conflict at work, it's important to be mindful of the "subversive" impact some language has, a specialist says.
