Jonathan Pearlman wrote:Facebook 'unfriending' can constitute workplace bullying, Australian tribunal finds

Australia’s workplace tribunal ruled that a woman was bullied after she was unfriended on Facebook following work dispute


Ms Roberts said she had been bullied and was left with depression and anxiety – a claim the tribunal accepted.

A woman in Australia who unfriended a colleague on Facebook after a dispute at work was found by a tribunal to have committed workplace bullying.

The Fair Work Commission, a workplace tribunal, said the decision by Lisa Bird, a real estate agent sales administrator, to unfriend her colleague Rachel Roberts showed a "lack of emotional maturity" and was "indicative of unreasonable behaviour."

The incident occurred after Ms Roberts, a property agent, complained to the agency principal that her properties were not being adequately displayed in the store window.

Mrs Bird, the wife of the principal, then accused Ms Roberts of being a "naughty little school girl running to the teacher."

Ms Roberts left the office crying and then checked to see if Mrs Bird had commented on the incident on Facebook, only to discover that Mrs Bird had instead unfriended her.

Ms Roberts said she had been bullied and was left with depression and anxiety – a claim the tribunal accepted.

“This action by Mrs Bird evinces a lack of emotional maturity and is indicative of unreasonable behaviour,” the tribunal ruled.

“The ‘schoolgirl’ comment… is evidence of an inappropriate dealing with Ms Roberts which was provocative and disobliging. I am of the view that Mrs Bird took the first opportunity to draw a line under the relationship with Ms Roberts on 29 January 2015, when she removed her as a friend on Facebook as she did not like Ms Roberts and would prefer not to have to deal with her.”

Ms Roberts listed other claims of unfair treatment by Mrs Bird, who was accused of failing to say hello in the morning and of delivering photocopies and print-outs to all staff but Ms Roberts. The commission has issued an order to stop the bullying.

Legal experts said the case did not mean that unfriending a colleague on Facebook would automatically constitute bullying.

"The Fair Work Commission didn't find that unfriending someone on Facebook constitutes workplace bullying," Josh Bornstein, a lawyer at the firm Maurice Blackburn, told ABC News.

"What the Fair Work Commission did find is that a pattern of unreasonable behaviour, hostile behaviour, belittling behaviour over about a two-year period, which featured a range of different behaviours including berating, excluding and so on, constituted a workplace bullying."

"The Fair Work Commission didn't find that unfriending someone on Facebook constitutes workplace bullying," Josh Bornstein, a lawyer at the firm Maurice Blackburn, told ABC News.

"What the Fair Work Commission did find is that a pattern of unreasonable behaviour, hostile behaviour, belittling behaviour over about a two-year period, which featured a range of different behaviours including berating, excluding and so on, constituted a workplace bullying."

 Aszubaruzah Surn wrote:
Has anyone actually read the article or is everyone reacting just to title?

Legal experts said the case did not mean that unfriending a colleague on Facebook would automatically constitute bullying.

"The Fair Work Commission didn't find that unfriending someone on Facebook constitutes workplace bullying," Josh Bornstein, a lawyer at the firm Maurice Blackburn, told ABC News.

"What the Fair Work Commission did find is that a pattern of unreasonable behaviour, hostile behaviour, belittling behaviour over about a two-year period, which featured a range of different behaviours including berating, excluding and so on, constituted a workplace bullying."