Banishing bullying from the workplace can save a company thousands in workers’ compensation claims. John Stanton provides tips for HR to safeguard their company against bullying claims
A recent decision by a Victorian magistrate to impose fines
against three café employees and a café owner draws at
tention to the hazards and risks posed by workplace bul
lying. The decision on 8 February of this year was widely reported
in the media and arose from prosecutions launched under Victori
an occupational health and safety legislation.
The individuals were fined because each had participated in the
bullying of a colleague. The consequences of the bullying were trag
ic because the victimised employee eventually took her own life.
The Victorian case is not the first occasion that bullying has been
the subject of a health and safety prosecution. In a notable 2004
decision, the Chief Industrial Magistrates Court of New South Wales
imposed a fine of $24,000 on a company and individual fines of
$1000 against each of the company’s directors.
The fines arose from an incident in which a 16-year-old labour
er had been put through a traumatic experience which was de
scribed by other employees as a practical joke and part of a tradi
tional workplace initiation.
The plainspeaking magistrate held a different view and said:
“What occurred on this day is often described as an initiation. It is
a polite term for bullying. A bullying culture has been known to exist
in some workplaces, often seen as a bit of fun at the expense of
someone else. It is a culture that needs to be stamped out. Bully
ing has no place in the workplace.”
While these cases demonstrate extreme behaviour and out
comes, they do illustrate the hazardous nature of malicious and un
restrained behaviour and its potential for psychological injury. An
injury of this type can have implications under laws other than oc
cupational health and safety. In particular, psychological injury can
expose the employer to claims under workers’ compensation law.
In most Australian jurisdictions, psychological injury is not com
pensable if it arises from the reasonable actions of the employer
such as, for example, reasonable disciplinary action. If the employer
action is not reasonable, then the claim is more likely to succeed.
