Start writing down incidents of bullying or harassment as they happen. You’re not alone, and there are things you can do about it. It can also affect your private life, making you feel anxious, irritable and reluctant to return to work. What can I do if I am being bullied or harassed at work?īeing bullied or harassed at work can make you less confident, less capable and more stressed while you are at work. Safe Work Australia defines harassment as: “unwelcome behaviour that intimidates, offends or humiliates a person”. Harassment involves a similar range of behaviours to bullying but may or may not be ongoing. Seek the advice of your union or contact the Australian Unions Support Centre if you have questions or concerns about bullying in your workplace. However, if workplace conflicts become common events and play out in a way that unfairly targets or victimises one person or a group of people, then this may count as bullying. Similarly, some level of disagreement can occur within the workplace without being bullying. For example, if they are designed to threaten, intimidate or harass you. However, these actions may constitute bullying behaviour if they are taken in an unreasonable manner. Issuing reasonable and lawful instructions about your work.The Fair Work Act does not prevent employers from taking reasonable management actions, which might include: Whether a behaviour is unreasonable can depend on whether a reasonable person might see the behaviour as unreasonable in the circumstances. Excessive surveillance or micromanagementīullying behaviour can occur inside or outside of working hours.Deliberately making someone feel uncomfortable.Being singled out, ganged up on or excluded (ostracised).Being subjected to teasing, humiliation, belittlement, mocking or sarcasm.The Fair Work Act (s 789FD) defines bullying as repeated unreasonable behaviour towards a worker (or group of workers) which creates a risk to health and safety.īullying consists of a broad spectrum of repeated unreasonable behaviour, which might include:

To help protect yourself from this health risk, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what bullying and harassment is. It is a serious health and safety issue that must be managed and prevented by employers.Įveryone should feel safe and supported at work. Bullying and harassment harms the physical and mental health of workers.

I feel harassed at work