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ARTICLE · 15 NOVEMBER 2025

Workplace bullying vs serious misconduct

Bartier Perry Solicitors
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The judgment confirms that bullying conduct must always be assessed against the common law and any applicable legislative and industrial instruments.

AustraliaEmployment and HR
Sylvia Moses
Sylvia Moses
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Bullying in workplaces is intolerable. It is a psychosocial hazard that employers have a duty to eliminate and prevent so far as is reasonably practicable. But does the safety duty to eliminate hazards from bullying require that a bully be dismissed, or disciplined in a particular way, in every case?

In the decision of Frost v Ambulance Victoria [2025] FWCFB94, a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission considered whether substantiated findings of bullying amounted to serious misconduct.

The Full Bench considered that bullying can range in seriousness and that a finding of bullying on its own is simply not enough to justify a finding of serious misconduct and dismissal. The judgment confirms that bullying conduct must always be assessed against the common law and any applicable legislative and industrial instruments, in order to determine its seriousness and the appropriate disciplinary sanction.

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