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Bullying & harassment

What is bullying

A worker is bullied at work if:

a person or group of people repeatedly act unreasonably towards them or a group of workers

the behaviour creates a risk to health and safety.

Unreasonable behaviour includes victimising, humiliating, intimidating or threatening. Whether a behaviour is unreasonable can depend on whether a reasonable person might see the behaviour as unreasonable in the circumstances.

Examples of bullying include:

behaving aggressively

teasing or practical jokes

pressuring someone to behave inappropriately

excluding someone from work-related events or

unreasonable work demands.

What isn't bullying

A manager can make decisions about poor performance, take disciplinary action, and direct and control the way work is carried out. Reasonable management action that’s carried out in a reasonable way is not bullying.

Management action that isn't carried out in a reasonable way may be considered bullying.

How is bullying different to discrimination?

Discrimination happens when there's 'adverse action', such as firing or demoting someone, because of a person's characteristics like their race, religion or sex.

Bullying happens when someone in the workplace repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards another person or group of people and causes a risk to health and safety in the workplace. This behaviour doesn't have to be related to the person or group's characteristics and adverse action doesn't have to have happened.

For employers:

Action carried out by a manager in a reasonable way isn't bullying. Download our Managing underperformance best practice guide for information about how to take reasonable management action to make sure employees are doing their job properly.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is committed to providing advice that you can rely on.

The information contained on this website is general in nature. If you are unsure about how it applies to your situation you can call our Infoline on 13 13 94 or speak with a union, industry association or workplace relations professional.

Visitors are warned that this site may inadvertently contain names or pictures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have recently died.