48 min read
Bullying
Last updated July 2026
This chapter explains your legal obligations around bullying and how to deal with bullying in your workplace.
What is bullying?
Bullying is behaviour by a person or group of people that:
- Is repeated: For behaviour to be repeated – and therefore able to be considered bullying – it must be more than a one-off occurrence. There is no specific number of incidents required for the behaviour to be repeated and it does not need to be the same each time. Instead, ‘repeated behaviour’ refers to the persistent nature of the behaviour.
- Is unreasonable: Generally, the question of whether behaviour is unreasonable is an objective test, i.e. behaviour is unreasonable based on what a reasonable person, who is aware of the conduct and the impact it is having on the person it is directed towards, would consider unreasonable.
- Creates a risk to health and safety: The behaviour must create a risk to health and safety for it to be considered bullying. A risk to health and safety means the possibility that someone could be harmed, either physically or psychologically. The conduct does not have to create actual danger – rather, it must expose the victim to the chance of injury or loss, which is real and not simply conceptual.
Example
Sam yells at one of his employees during a staff meeting. A week later, he sends an abusive email to the employee. The behaviours are repeated acts of bullying, even though they are not the same kinds of behaviour. A reasonable person would consider Sam’s behaviour to be unreasonable.
Sam yells at one of his employees during a staff meeting. A week later, he sends an abusive email to the employee. The behaviours are repeated acts of bullying, even though they are not the same kinds of behaviour. A reasonable person would consider Sam’s behaviour to be unreasonable.