By Claire Mansell - 4 Feb 2013
There is increasing awareness of workplace bullying and the
effect it has on employees. Bullying can be a difficult issue
for both employers and employees. What one person may see as
'tough management' another may view as bullying.
What is Workplace Bullying?
Defining workplace bullying can be difficult. It is easy
to see how behaviour such as hitting, yelling or threats can
constitute bullying, however, many allegations of bullying involve
insidious behaviour, such as constant criticism without foundation,
stonewalling ideas or ignoring the victim.
The Courts have given some guidance to the types of behaviour
which constitute bullying, such as:
- Behaviour which intentionally intimidates or gains dominance
over the victim; and
- An ongoing or a distinct pattern of bullying behaviour -
isolated incidents are less likely to constitute bullying.
It is also important to consider the social context in which the
alleged bullying occurs.
What to do if workplace bullying is going on?
Employers have an active duty to protect employees from
workplace bullying.
Under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, an employer
has a duty to provide a safe working environment. This includes
safety from "a situation where a person's behaviour may be an
actual or potential cause or source of harm to the person or
another person". Harm includes stress and anxiety which may
be caused by bullying.
If an employer becomes aware of a potential bullying situation
or complaint, they will need to act quickly. The first step is to
investigate the complaint or incident. Keep an open mind
about the complaint. Many employers fall into the trap of
rationalizing the potential bully's behaviour or treating the
employee as a "troublemaker". Alternatively, sometimes
complaints of bullying are made to side-track or stonewall
performance management of the employee making the complaint. No two
situations are ever the same.
Once the complaint is investigated, employers will need to
determine whether the behaviour constitutes bullying. Often, what
one employee views as bullying may instead be a personality
clash.
If the bullying is established, the employer will need to
determine how best to deal with the situation. It pays to remember
that once "outed" bullies often seek to find more subtle ways to
bully the victim which are not so detectable.
It is important to keep the complainant employee up to date with
progress. Not knowing what (if anything), the employer is
doing about the situation can mean added stress and anxiety for the
employee (which can lead to a successful personal grievance
claim).
Victims of workplace bullying should make their employer aware
of the situation. Once the employer becomes aware of the
complaint, they have a duty to act upon it. But if they do not know
about it, they are unlikely to be held liable for it.
Contacts
Claire
Mansell