Fair Work Commission to Deal with Bullies

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Workplace bullying would be dealt with by the Fair Work Commission under proposed changes to the Fair Work Act 2009, announced by Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Bill Shorten.

The proposed changes endorse recommendations by the House of Representatives committee, chaired by Amanda Rishworth MP, following its inquiry into bullying.

Proposed amendments to the Fair Work Act include:

• Adopting the following definition, recommended by the parliamentary committee: “Bullying, harassment or victimisation means repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety”

• Recognising that bullying does not include reasonable management practices including performance management conducted in a reasonable manner

• Allowing workers who have suffered bullying to make a complaint to the Fair Work Commission

• Requiring the Fair Work Commission to deal with any application as a matter of priority including by listing the matter for consideration within 14 days

• Enabling the Fair Work Commission to make orders to deal with the complaint and/or to refer to the relevant state Work Health and Safety regulator.

CCH 12th February 2013