What is bullying at work and what can you do about it?
Watch the video above where Kate explains exactly what to do if you are being bullied at work.
Bullying and harassment may include abuse, excessive workload, and unreasonable performance expectations. First, report the issue to your immediate superior. If unresolved after multiple attempts, you can file a grievance.
Employees have 90 days from when they first identified the bullying to raise a personal grievance claim under the Employment Relations Act. We can help you at the outset to try and resolve your problem and we can help you with your grievance and subsequent progress towards a solution.
What Workplace Bullying IS:
- Repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker which can lead to physical or psychological harm.
- Repeated behaviour occurs more than once and can involve a range of actions over time.
- Unreasonable behaviour means actions that a reasonable person in the same circumstances would see as unreasonable. It includes victimising, humiliating, intimidating or threatening a person.
- Bullying may also include harassment (including sexual harassment), discrimination or violence.
What is NOT Workplace Bullying:
- One-off or occasional instances of forgetfulness, rudeness or tactlessness.
- Setting high performance standards.
- Constructive feedback and legitimate advice or peer review.
- A manager requiring reasonable verbal or written work instructions to be carried out.
- Warning or disciplining workers in line with the business’ or undertaking’s code of conduct.
- A single incident of unreasonable behaviour.
- Reasonable management actions delivered in a reasonable way.
- Differences in opinion or personality clashes that do not escalate into bullying, harassment or violence.
We must be able to prove that the bully caused harm and also intended to cause harm on more than one occasion.
You will be expected to have kept records of the incidents and to have told someone else, preferably management.
Bullying Formal Complaint Form
If the bullying is not an immediate threat to your health and you know your employer is not yet aware of the situation you can use this form to raise a formal complaint:
Work Safe NZ have forms you can complete to give to your manager, or to your HR department. This is to make sure your employer is aware of the bullying situation, and gives them the opportunity to respond. These complaint forms have been provided for workers to report bullying or other upsetting behaviour to their businesses. The assessment form can assess how well your business prevents and responds to bullying. Click here for the Work Safe forms.
Read reviews from people just like you who we have helped with their employment disputes.
Thanks to Hilary for a great outcome.
I reached out to Hilary at Work Law after looking for an ELINZ registered advocate and she exceeded every expectation. She got in touch quickly, immediately understood the value of my case, and clearly explained what I needed to provide.
Hilary put in countless hours reviewing my documents and preparing a personal grievance claim. Her communication was consistent, honest, and down‑to‑earth.
Thanks to Hilary’s expertise and hard work, I had a great outcome, my family and I are so grateful!
Hilary was strategic, clear and logical in her approach.
Hilary handled my case with great care and professionalism, especially during a very stressful moment in my life. Throughout the process, she was very strategic, clear and logical in her approach, which gave me a lot of confidence.
I am grateful for her support and would highly recommend her services to anyone looking for trustworthy, high level representation.
I recommend Hilary.
Since the beginning, Hilary was kind and professional with communications, always clear and happy to clarify any doubts. She guided me through the process explaining expectations and timelines with excellent skills for negotiation. I am very grateful for her services and the outcome and really recommend her.
Theo was an excellent, kind and responsive advocate.
I was being bullied by a powerful and vile local public figure. It mattered to me that my advocate shared my values. Theo had very sharp and quick answers to my questions in the first phone conversation, and helped me navigate the fine line between a satisfactory defense of my professional reputation and a moral victory. It isn’t always possible to get both, but Theo had a good idea about where i stood each step of the way and helped me make sure that my outcome preserved my professional reputation while also sending a clear moral message to my employers, who would have just as soon thrown me under the nearest bus. They will think twice before they consider allowing a bully to run roughshod over their employees again.
Don’t resign or quit before you speak to an employment law expert.
If something feels wrong at work – don’t resign or quit before you talk to someone who really knows employment law. Hilary at Work Law is amazing. She listened, she fought hard, and she helped me get through one of the toughest times of my life. I’m so grateful I called her before giving up. Highly recommend!
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