An employee has failed in his bid for an order to stop his managers from allegedly bullying him after he was told the perceived to be bullying was in fact “ordinary” performance management.
The Fair Work Commission found the employer had attempted to address the employee’s performance on a number of occasions, which led to claims by the employee that he was treated “like a slave”.
The employee told the FWC his manager told him to “go back where I came from” and “constantly intimidate[d] me to terminate my employment”.
“He constantly makes hurtful remarks , he always put me down and makes me feel less important and undervalued,” it was claimed by the employee.
But the employer rejected any suggestion the employee had been bullied and FWC agreed, noting evidence that genuine attempts were being made to manage the employee’s work performance.
The FWC stated all of the material provided demonstrates an ordinary exercise of management prerogative and were satisfied that the employers managers are managing the applicant’s performance in an ordinary fashion.
Summary: This is another example of the FWC reluctance to interfere in genuine management decisions in the bullying jurisdiction, despite initial fears of overreach .What was critical were the documents provided, the records the employer kept and the fact they had a clear management performance process.
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