ANTI-BULLYING – bullied at work – unreasonable behaviour – s.789FC Fair Work Act 2009 – application for an order to stop bullying – applicant is a teacher and is also OH&S representative – alleged she has been bullied at work by the Principal of the College – Principal appointed in 2013 with a mandate from the Board of Mercy Education to effect change and arrest declining enrolment – some staff were resistant to change and preferred the status quo – applicant gave evidence that she became increasingly concerned about Mercy Education’s bullying policy and in May 2013 raised the issue of bullying and the need to update the policy – Business Manager agreed to review the bullying policy by the end of the year – this did not eventuate – issue raised again in April 2014 – no Deputy Principal at the College – Deputy Principal had resigned after Principal had been appointed – Deputy Principal continued to be listed in the outdated bullying policy as the complaints officer – bullying policy revised and re-issued in 2015 after applicant filed complaints in December 2014 – applicant identified a number of incidents occurring from late 2013 and continuing after her return from LSL in mid-2015 which she maintained were together repeated unreasonable behaviour by the Principal – Amie Mac adopted – Commission concluded that four of the incidents about which the applicant complained, taken together, amounted to repeated unreasonable behaviour – found conduct was likely to have caused applicant distress – behaviour created a risk to the health and safety of applicant – found applicant was bullied at work – what orders (if any) should be made – held relationship between applicant and Principal is an obviously tense one involving some mutual animus – interpersonal relationship disputes are best resolved through the efforts of the parties and perhaps assisted by some form of facilitation or mediation – any orders made would likely favour one side over the other – some form of reconciliation is much more likely to produce a lasting positive improvement in the working relationship between the parties than any order – proposal that the parties engage with each other in a series of mediated or facilitated meetings with the aim of repairing their relationship and engaging in a dialogue that will accommodate an ongoing professional working relationship and a safe working environment – if parties unwilling to engage with each other then they can request the expeditious hearing and determination of the question whether orders should be made. Purcell v Ms Mary Farah and Mercy Education Ltd t/a St Aloysius College
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