Fair Work Act 2009 Amendment
As of
January 1 2014, changes to the Fair Work Act (2009) regarding workplace
bullying came into effect. These changes trigger new obligations on all
workplaces and under the Act, you as employers are to actively prevent and
promptly manage workplace bullying. Businesses
will need to review their bullying policies in light of these amendments to
ensure that they deal appropriately with the new provisions. For example, you may need to ensure that your
bullying policy is adapted to deal with complaints made by a worker who is not
an employee or you may want to make changes to ensure your internal processes
for resolving such complaints are likely to satisfy the Fair Work Commission.
These amendments have the potential to significantly alter the workplace practices
of employers, including in the following ways:
- There is no requirement for the worker to raise the bullying issues internally in the workplace. Employers are now faced with the risk of having to deal publicly with bully allegations that the worker has not sought to resolve at the workplace level.
- There will be greater scrutiny and expectation around performance management processes undertaken by employers.
- The lack of clarity around what constitutes ‘at work’ exposes employers to claims arising from social media interactions or as a result of flexible working arrangements.
- If the Commission finds that bullying occurred, it may result in an increase of successful workers compensation claims for psychological injury. The making of orders under the anti-bullying provisions will make it increasingly difficult for employers to defend such claims resulting from bullying.