You may be eligible to claim a workplace bullying compensation payout when your mental health is damaged by bullying behaviours at work. This detrimental conduct can substantially negatively impact employees’ mental health, contributing to depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
Our comprehensive legal guide to workplace bullying QLD explains the steps to claiming compensation and ensures your rights are protected.
Workers Compensation Lawyers for Workplace Bullying and Harassment
All Queensland employees have the right to a safe and respectful working environment. When something goes wrong and you suffer physical or psychological harm, you can seek legal advice regarding your rights. Splatt’s workplace bullying compensation lawyers can explain whether you have a valid claim, our legal fees, and what you can expect during the legal process.
All our legal services are 100% no-win, no-fee. Pay when you win and zero if you lose. Call 1800 700 125
What is Considered Bullying in the Workplace?
Workplace bullying occurs when repeated and undesirable behaviour creates a health and safety risk. This unwelcome conduct can take various forms, such as:
- Written or verbal abuse
- Humiliation and manipulation
- Exclusion
- Or even physical aggression
When bullied at work in Australia, the Fair Work Act 2009, s.789FD protects your legal rights, with physical assault considered more severe than psychological harm.
Workplace harassment and bullying can occur among coworkers, superiors, or subordinates, creating a hostile work environment that adversely affects employees’ health, safety, and job performance.
Due to the deteriorating workplace culture, impacted staff can suffer mental health disorders with reduced productivity.
How Can I Be Bullied at Work?
You can be bullied at work face-to-face, on social media, on work chat platforms, by phone or by email. Common types of bullying include:
- Abusive language: Unjustified criticism, yelling, humiliating or belittling comments, insults, and offensive language can be psychological abuse.
- Spreading Rumours: Sharing false or negative information about an employee’s personal or professional life causes distress and damages their reputation.
- Unreasonable Work Demands: Imposing excessive workloads, unrealistic deadlines, or consistently assigning tasks beyond an employee’s abilities can lead to stress and feelings of inadequacy.
- Practical Jokes: Teasing, mocking, or playing pranks on staff creates an uncomfortable and hostile atmosphere, contributing to emotional distress.
Furthermore, work-related bullying can involve supervisors, colleagues, or even contractors, with the effects being both physical and psychological, such as stress, anxiety, depression, and physical health issues.
What is Not Bullying?
Bullying activity that occurs only once is not regarded as legally actionable. However, escalated and recurrent bullying behaviour can trigger legal action.
Common situations not considered bullying include:
- A one-time incidence of physical violence or threat of violence
- Reasonable management action (see below)
- Discrimination and sexual harassment – covered by other legislation
- Work conflict: differences of opinion and disagreements are not bullying behaviour
Of course, a single instance of unreasonable behaviour could be the start of a bullying campaign, so taking early action can help avoid workplace injury litigation.
Your Right to Claim Bullying Compensation
You could have the legal right to claim a workplace bullying compensation payout when undesirable behaviour causes you psychological injury or a mental illness, particularly when your employer fails to take reasonable steps to prevent harm.
In Queensland, the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) protects your right to a safe and healthy workplace. When your boss fails their duty of care, various legal remedies exist, including:
- A WorkCover claim under the workers’ compensation scheme
- Mental illness permanent impairment payout
- Psychological injury common law claim
Can I Make a Workers' Compensation Claim for Bullying?
In Queensland, any work-related physical or psychological harm can be eligible for a workers’ compensation claim, including workplace bullying and harassment. To know if you can claim bullying compensation, consider the following:
- Has the bullying behaviour caused a new illness or physical injury?
- Has the unwanted behaviour worsened an existing condition?
- Is your medical disorder a direct outcome of workplace bullying?
- Have you been diagnosed with a psychological condition by a doctor?
- Do you currently see a psychologist for your mental illness?
Our personal injury lawyers offer a free case assessment when workplace bullying has caused a new or worsened work-related injury or illness, and you have a diagnosis from a medical professional.
They can explain your legal rights and compensation entitlements. It’s free to know your rights: Call 1800 700 125
Free Claim Assessment
Taking Legal Action for Workplace Bullying
In Australia, you could take legal action when your employer has either:
- Failed to take reasonable steps to stop the unwanted behaviour
- Been ineffective in preventing the behaviour
Legal options for addressing workplace bullying include:
- Raising a formal complaint with human resources
- Starting alternative dispute resolution processes like mediation or arbitration
- Pursuing a claim for bullying compensation and common law damages
By seeking legal representation, people experiencing workplace bullying can hold their employers accountable for their duty-of-care failures.
You can sue and seek compensation damages for workplace bullying in Australia when your employer fails to provide a safe and healthy workplace, and you suffer harm.
Once approved, an insurance company is generally liable to fund ya lump-sum payout. In Queensland, this is usually WorkCover, the principal workers’ compensation insurer for most employers.
To learn if you can sue for workplace bullying:
- An experienced work injury claim lawyer can explain if you have a case
- Informed legal advice helps you know your rights and next steps
Steps to Take Before Suing for Workplace Bullying
Before suing for workplace bullying, follow these specific steps to build a strong case.
- Document incidents with a record of dates, times, and details of each occurrence
- Collect supporting evidence like emails, text messages, and witness statements.
- Get professional help from a therapist or counsellor when you have suffered psychological or emotional harm. Doing this gives you personal support and evidence of bullying’s impact on your mental well-being.
- Report the bullying to your supervisor, health and safety representative or Human Resources department. If applicable, please also document these discussions. Taking these steps will help establish a robust foundation for your workplace bullying case.
- Consult a compensation lawyer who will explain your rights and eligibility for workplace bullying compensation.
What is Reasonable Management Action?
Reasonable management action refers to measures taken by employers or managers when managing performance, such as:
- Helping employees improve their performance
- Taking steps to remedy poor performance or behaviour
Examples of reasonable management action by employers include:
- Starting a performance improvement plan
- Implementing disciplinary measures for misconduct
- Discussions about poor work performance
- Informing an employee that their behaviour is undesirable
- Requesting workers perform reasonable duties
- Taking steps to retain consistent work standards
Generally, the above must occur reasonably and fairly for a valid business purpose; otherwise, it may be considered bullying.
4 Elements of a Bullying Workers' Compensation Claim
A successful bullying workers’ compensation claim relies on several key elements that prove your case and justify fair compensation.
First: The repeated nature of the behaviour
Workplace bullying involves persistent and ongoing mistreatment towards someone. Not a one-off occurrence.
Second: It was unreasonable behaviour
The worker’s conduct was beyond acceptable or reasonable in a work environment, including discriminatory treatment based on sexual orientation, gender identity and other considerations.
Furthermore: The bad conduct caused you an injury
To successfully claim bullying compensation, you must have suffered an injury. Typically, victims have psychiatric conditions that impact their work capacity, such as:
- PTSD
- Emotional trauma
- Stress, depression and anxiety
Lastly: The claimant tried to resolve the issue
To win a case, you typically must show that you tried to resolve the issue internally by reporting the damaging behaviour to a health and safety representative, human resources department, or higher management.
How Much is a Workplace Bullying Compensation Payout?
The value of workplace bullying compensation payouts depends on the circumstances, including the severity of your injury and how it affects your ability to earn income.
Furthermore, the type of compensation claim will also influence how much you get in a lump sum payment.
WorkCover Claim
Once you have an approved claim under the Queensland WorkCover Scheme, you may receive weekly payments. These start at 85% of your regular earnings or the amount specified in your industrial award, whichever is greater.
Furthermore, the longer you receive WorkCover benefits, the smaller this amount becomes, ceasing at five years or when you reach the maximum payable amount.
Permanent Impairment Payout
You can request a permanent impairment assessment when you are nearing the end of your Queensland workers’ compensation claim. If approved (the minimum is a 15% impairment rating), you will receive a lump-sum settlement offer calculated using the Queensland impairment rating payout table.
As of January 1, 2024, an injured Queensland worker is entitled to $1,844.70 for each 1% of the DPI score, with a maximum payable amount of $398,731.90
According to Safe Work Australia, the average compensation payment for a psychological injury claim is $ 23,600.
Common Law Claim Payout
- A common law claim payout for workplace bullying can be a complex and lengthy process; however, it generally results in more significant damages.
- To succeed, you must prove your employer’s breach of duty or negligence was the cause of your harm.
According to WorkCover Queensland’s published statistics, the average common law claim payout is approximately $168,000, with psychiatric injury values ranging from $100,000 to $200,000.
What Damages Can I Recover from a Successful Claim?
Damages from a successful common law claim are typically higher than those using lump-sum permanent impairment ratings. That’s because a common law case considers “heads of damages,” which include both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages cover financial losses incurred as a result of the bullying, including:
- Lost earnings
- Lost superannuation
- Medical expenses
- Treatment-related travel expenses
- Any other related monetary losses
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages compensate for the emotional and psychological harm caused by the negative behaviour. These damages cover:
- Pain and suffering compensation
- Emotional trauma
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Legal Advice for Bullying Workers' Compensation Claims
Queensland’s legal system makes it challenging to successfully claim workplace bullying compensation. However, you have the right to seek legal advice, including your eligibility for a lump sum compensation payout.
Splatt Lawyers’ team of workers’ compensation lawyers helps bullied Queensland workers:
- Understand their legal rights
- Their eligibility for compensation
- And legal advice on an injury damages claim against an employer for negligence
All our bullying legal services come with 100% no-win, no-fee legal funding. You pay when you win and zero if you lose, so you have no financial risk for your case. Get free legal advice at 1800 700 125