The Federal Government has announced changes to the Fair Work Act that will enable victims of workplace bullying to receive assistance quickly with a focus on early intervention.

Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Bill Shorten, said the Government would support the majority of the 23 recommendations made by the Parliamentary Inquiry into Workplace Bullying, chaired by Amanda Rishworth.

Mr Shorten said the Government’s response would see measures to adopt a national definition of workplace bullying, to promote education and awareness f what constitutes workplace bullying and to lead the development of national training standards to improve responses to bullying complaints.

“Bullying and harassment have no place in any Australian workplace. Every Australian who goes to work should be able to come home safe,” Mr Shorten said.

“The Government will amend the Fair Work Act to allow an employee who has suffered bullying at work a right to seek assistance through the Fair Work Commission.

“We want to make sure all Australian workplaces are safe, healthy and productive and to adopt a zero tolerance approach to bullying.

The amendments to the Fair Work Act will include:

  • Adopting the Committee’s recommended definition: ‘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; and
  • Enabling the Fair Work Commission to make orders to deal with the complaint and/or to refer to the relevant state WHS regulator

Other recommendations supported by the Government include Safe Work Australia developing materials for employers that provide advice on preventing and responding to workplace bullying.