The Situation
What They Said
“I can manage my team however I like. If you can't handle feedback, that's your problem.”
Workplace bullying is a serious and widespread problem in Australian workplaces, with studies consistently finding that a significant proportion of workers have experienced repeated unreasonable behaviour from managers or colleagues. Bullying by a manager is particularly damaging because the power imbalance makes it harder to resist, report, or escape — the bully controls performance reviews, rostering, promotion, and in many cases access to work itself. Workers in this situation are often told that they are 'too sensitive,' that the manager's behaviour is 'just high standards,' or that they are not suited to the workplace culture.
The Fair Work Act 2009 defines workplace bullying specifically and gives the Fair Work Commission jurisdiction to issue legally binding orders to stop bullying behaviour where it creates a risk to health and safety. The definition is deliberately drafted to distinguish bullying from legitimate management action — performance management, reasonable instructions, and genuine feedback are not bullying. But repeated humiliation, unreasonable workloads, public ridicule, exclusion, and threats cross the line regardless of what title the person committing them holds.
Many workers endure bullying for months or years before seeking help, fearing that complaining will make things worse or result in dismissal. The law provides a pathway that focuses not on punishment but on stopping the behaviour — a crucial protection for workers who simply want a safe workplace, not a legal battle.
The Fallacy
Managerial Prerogative Fallacy
The claim that a manager can 'manage their team however they like' is a form of the managerial prerogative fallacy — the idea that authority over a person's employment gives unlimited power over how that person is treated. This is legally false in Australia. Managerial authority is bounded by employment law, work health and safety law, and the specific provisions of the Fair Work Act that protect workers from repeated unreasonable behaviour.
The secondary fallacy — 'if you can't handle feedback, that's your problem' — reframes the target's response to mistreatment as a character defect. This is a well-documented manipulation tactic in bullying dynamics: by pathologising the victim's reaction, the bully deflects scrutiny from their own conduct. The law cuts through this by focusing not on how the target feels but on whether the behaviour is objectively unreasonable and repeated.
Naming the behaviour as 'feedback' or 'management style' does not change its legal character. The Fair Work Act assessment asks whether the behaviour was repeated, whether it was unreasonable, and whether it created a risk to health and safety. A manager's choice of label for their own conduct is irrelevant to that assessment.
What the Law Says
Your Legal Foundation
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
Section 789FD — Definition of Workplace Bullying
“A worker is bullied at work if: (a) an individual; or a group of individuals; repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards the worker or a group of workers of which the worker is a member; and (b) that behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. Reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner does not constitute workplace bullying.”
The legal definition requires that the behaviour be both repeated and unreasonable — a single incident, however severe, does not meet the threshold for bullying under this section (though it may engage other laws). Crucially, the section explicitly excludes 'reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner,' which means genuine performance management, lawful instructions, and honest feedback delivered professionally are protected. The question is always whether the behaviour crosses the line from management into unreasonable conduct that creates a risk to the target's health.
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
Section 789FF — Fair Work Commission May Order Bullying to Stop
“If the Fair Work Commission is satisfied that a worker has been bullied at work and there is a risk that the worker will continue to be bullied at work, the Commission may make any order it considers appropriate to prevent the worker from being bullied at work (other than an order requiring payment of a pecuniary amount).”
A worker who is currently being bullied — meaning the bullying is ongoing and the risk of continuation exists — can apply to the Fair Work Commission for a stop bullying order. This is a distinctive remedy because it is preventive rather than compensatory: its aim is to protect the worker going forward. Orders may require the employer to review policies, change the working arrangements, or direct the person committing the bullying to change their conduct.
Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and State/Territory equivalents
Section 19 — Primary Duty of Care
“A person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of workers, including by ensuring the work environment is without risks to health and safety.”
Workplace bullying is a recognised psychosocial hazard under work health and safety law. An employer who permits or fails to address bullying by a manager may be breaching its primary duty of care under WHS legislation. Workers can report bullying to their state or territory WHS regulator as well as to the Fair Work Commission, and the regulator has power to investigate and issue improvement or prohibition notices.
What Scripture Says
God's Word on This
Ezekiel 34:4 (NIV)
“You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.”
God's condemnation of harsh leadership is unambiguous. Authority is given for the good of those under it — to strengthen, protect, and build up — not to dominate and diminish. A manager who bullies is exercising authority in a way God explicitly condemns. The worker who refuses to normalise that treatment and seeks legal protection is not being difficult; they are upholding the dignity that God assigns to every person in the workplace.
Micah 6:8 (NIV)
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Justice — including in the workplace — is not optional in the biblical framework; it is required. Seeking an order to stop bullying behaviour is an act of justice: it names wrong, refuses to accept it, and uses the institutions available to correct it. This is not vengeance or victimhood — it is the just response to unjust treatment.
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What They'll Say Next
Common Counter-Arguments
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