Case Law on Workplace Bullying

Claims related to events that could be characterised as bullying have been
and continue to be dealt with before Courts and Tribunals as unfair dismissal
claims, discrimination claims, occupational health and safety breaches, breaches
of statutory duty or negligence actions.

A quick trawl through any case law directory using search terms such as ‘bullying’
‘abusive’, ‘intimidatory’ will produce a list of successful claims.

A few examples – many of which either the complainant/plaintiff, or the
judgment itself describe as involving bullying - are:

♦ Horne & McIntosh v Press Clough Joint Venture – 1994 WA Equal Opportunity
Commission – sexual harassment claim involving elements of bullying (WA
Equal Opportunities Act) - $92,000 awarded.

♦ Arnold v Midwest Radio P/L – 1999 Qld Equal Opportunity Commission
(Queensland Workplace Health & Safety Act) – $549,000 initially awarded
for bullying behaviour, but - later set aside on appeal on a matter to do with causation.

♦ Blenner-Hasset v Murray Goulburn Co-operative P/L & Ors – 1999 County
Court Victoria – common law claim for harassment/bullying - $350,000 awarded.

McKenna v State of Victoria – 2000 Vic Equal Opportunity Commission sexual
harassment claim involving bullying (Vic Equal Opportunities Act) - $120,000
awarded.

♦ Serratore v Doyles Construction Lawyers (2) – 2001 Queensland Industrial
Relations Commission – Application for reinstatement under QLD Industrial
Relations Act - $10,000.00 awarded for hurt, humiliation and distress related
to bullying behaviour.

♦ Marilyn Barton AND Baker Johnson Lawyers – 27 June 2003 decision by
Queensland Industrial Relations Commission – 6 months compensation
awarded to legal secretary for workplace bullying by the principal partner
and another lawyer (abusive and intimidatory swearing and yelling at
applicant, and other repeated intimidatory behaviour). It is to be noted
that the Commission has referred the transcript of this case to the
Queensland Minister for Industrial Relations given its concerns about the
health and safety of the workers at Baker Johnson Lawyers.