A prominent Melbourne employment lawyer, Josh Bornstein, has
suggested that we need to rethink how we deal with workplace
bullying in legal terms.
He says, surely correctly, that the "Brodie's law"
approach, criminalising bullying as akin to stalking, is more
symbolic (and legislative "feel good") than of real
benefit, in the vast majority of cases.
And he argues that we will never make headway against workplace
bullying while it is perceived as a safety issue, essentially
because an OH&S focus addresses processes and implementation,
and in rare cases penalties for a business that handles a bullying
issue very badly, but there is generally no private right of
action.
But would a much broader right to make a claim about bullying be
suitably calibrated to address genuine cases, or would it open
floodgates to many cases that are more about general disgruntlement
or workplace politics than seriously inappropriate behaviour? As
we've seen with unfair dismissals,
