What happens when you report workplace bullying

Who can apply to stop the bullying

Whether this option is open to you at all is decided by the Fair Work Commission's eligibility rules, so it's the first thing worth checking. Those rules state: "You cannot apply if you no longer work for the employer where you believe the bullying was taking place." You also need to still be working in, or connected to, the workplace where it happened.

That matters most if you're thinking about resigning. People reach that point for all sorts of reasons, including resigning because of the health effects or the stress of the situation, and leaving may still be the right decision for you, but once you've left, this specific option is gone. If you want to keep it available, the application needs to go in while you're still employed there, not after.

What a stop-bullying order can and can't do

If you are eligible, you can apply to the Fair Work Commission for an order to stop bullying at work. The Commission is direct about the limits of what it can order: "We cannot: order any party to pay financial compensation, order any disciplinary action, punish parties or terminate someone's employment."

What it can do is order the behaviour to stop, require the employer to review or comply with its bullying policy, or require training and support to be put in place, but only where there's a real risk the bullying will continue. The jurisdiction is built to change what happens from here on rather than to make up for what has already happened. If compensation is part of what you're looking for, the general protections pathway described further down is a different route, and it's worth understanding the difference before you choose one.

How long the process usually takes

The Commission aims to discuss the case with everyone involved within 2 weeks of receiving an application, and to resolve most cases within 16 weeks. Most cases resolve through conciliation, an informal, private discussion between the parties, before it ever reaches a formal hearing in front of a Commission Member.

Sixteen weeks is the aim rather than a guarantee, and some cases take longer. If you're deciding whether to apply, it helps to expect something measured in months rather than days, and to factor that in alongside whatever else you're managing at work.

If you've been treated badly for complaining

Being demoted, having hours cut, or being dismissed because you made a bullying complaint is a different problem with a different, more direct remedy. That can be a general protections claim, a separate part of the Fair Work Act dealing with adverse action, and unlike the stop-bullying jurisdiction, compensation can be part of the outcome there. Raising a formal grievance covers what counts as adverse action and how the general protections process works if you're treated worse for complaining.

The two are easy to conflate and they lead to different places, so if this describes your situation it's worth getting specific advice on which pathway actually fits before you lodge anything.

Where to get support while you decide

None of this settles the question of what to do, and people in similar positions reasonably reach different conclusions about whether to escalate. If you want to talk it through with someone before you decide anything, your workplace's employee assistance program, if it has one, offers free confidential counselling, and Lifeline is available any time on 13 11 14.