Workplace bullying

Workplace bullying is repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards an employee or a group of employees that creates a risk to health and safety. It does not include reasonable management action. See Chapter 7 of the Industrial Relations Act 2016 for more.

Get support

If you witness or experience workplace bullying, talk to your supervisor or HR team immediately. Follow your agency’s workplace bullying policy and procedure.

Alternatively, complete the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission’s Application for an order to stop bullying (Form 82).

Types of workplace bullying

Overt bullying

Overt bullying includes:

• personal insults
• physical attacks
• sexual harassment
• torment through threats and fear
• unreasonable anger, threats, abuse and obscenities
• shouting and swearing at colleagues (either in public or private)
• belittling, humiliating or ridiculing colleagues through criticism and sarcasm
• inappropriate comments about career prospects, job security or performance

Covert bullying

Covert bullying includes:

• excessive criticism
• excessive supervision (micro-managing, monitoring everything)
• freezing out, ignoring, excluding and isolating
• personal insults and name-calling
• taking credit for someone else’s work
• blaming or implicating others for your mistakes
• not listening to another person’s point of view
• cutting across people in conversation
• spreading malicious rumours
• overruling an individual's authority without warning or proper discussion
• removing whole areas of work responsibility from a person
• reducing a person’s job to routine tasks which are well below their skills and capabilities
• setting impossible targets and objectives, or changing targets without telling the person
• withholding information deliberately which the person requires to do their job effectively

Cyber bullying

Cyber bullying includes:

• posting hurtful messages, images or videos online
• repeatedly sending unwanted messages online
• creating fake social networking profiles or websites that are hurtful

More information

Visit the Office of Industrial Relations website or the Work Safe website.