The FWC has refused to take the "extraordinary step" of temporarily halting an employer's recruitment process while it determines whether an unsuccessful candidate was "bullied". The employee, a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, alleged the institution bullied him when it overlooked him for a new role and didn't extend his existing employment contract. He blamed his failure to secure the position on an anonymous complaint about his research, which led to a misconduct investigation. The employee made a stop-bullying application, arguing that at least two of the four people on the interview panel knew about the inquiry into his alleged research misconduct, and that his interview was unfair because he was not given the opportunity to discuss his research. While his claim proceeds, the employee sought an interim order restraining the employer from appointing a new candidate to the role he wanted. The employer argued the employee ...

An employee who claimed his new team leader micromanaged and bullied him has had his stop-bullying application rejected, after the Fair Work Commission found her behaviour "abrupt" but not repeated or unreasonable. The Bunnings Warehouse employee claimed that in May 2016 the new team leader asked him about his face – the left side of his face "droops" and he is unable to move his left arm – which he found "deeply disrespectful and hurtful". A few weeks later, the team leader on two occasions confronted him and questioned why he was in different sections of the store, he told the Commission, noting he believed he was being singled out and treated differently from colleagues. He contacted the store manager to discuss the issue but was told she was too busy to speak with him, and he subsequently took two days off because of work-related stress. The employee claimed that when he returned to work, the employer suspended him but didn't tell him wh...