Workplace bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment are unlawful in Australia, and a working holiday maker has the same protections as an Australian worker. Visa status, length of service and industry make no difference.
What actually counts as bullying?
Repeated unreasonable behaviour towards a worker that creates a risk to health and safety. All three parts have to be present under the Fair Work Act. A single incident, however bad, is not bullying under this definition, though it may be harassment, assault or discrimination instead.
Unreasonable means behaviour a reasonable person would see as victimising, humiliating, threatening or intimidating: shouting and verbal abuse, humiliation in front of colleagues, deliberate isolation, unjustified criticism, impossible workloads set up to fail, and rumours spread about you. It does not cover reasonable management action carried out reasonably, so performance feedback, changes to your duties and lawful directions are not bullying even when unwelcome. That distinction decides most complaints.
How is sexual harassment treated differently?
It does not need to be repeated. Sexual harassment is any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that a reasonable person would anticipate might make you feel offended, humiliated or intimidated, and one incident is enough to found a complaint.
There is also no minimum service period, which matters for a workforce that changes jobs every few months. Someone harassed in their second week has the same standing as someone in their second year. The conduct covered is broad: unwelcome touching, sexual comments and jokes, images sent or shown, repeated requests for dates, remarks about your body, and following or stalking. Where it involves assault or stalking it is also a criminal matter, and reporting to police runs alongside the workplace complaint rather than instead of it.
What can actually be done about it?
Four routes, leading to different outcomes. Which is right depends on whether the behaviour is ongoing, whether you have been dismissed, and how long you have left in the country.
- An anti-bullying order from the Fair Work Commission, designed to stop behaviour that is still happening rather than compensate for past conduct. It requires you to still be employed there.
- A General Protections claim, if you were dismissed or treated badly for raising a complaint. No minimum service period applies.
- A discrimination complaint under federal or state anti-discrimination law, which can produce compensation and orders for change.
- A sexual harassment claim under the Sex Discrimination Act, again with no minimum service period.
The branch point is time. Anti-bullying orders only help while you are still there, so leaving the job closes that door and opens the others. If you are close to the end of your visa, resolve the timing before you fly.
Can an employer threaten your visa?
No, and this threat keeps working holiday makers silent more than any other. An employer has no power over your visa: the Department of Home Affairs decides visa matters, a workplace complaint triggers no visa review, and making one is protected conduct under the Fair Work Act.
Retaliation for raising a complaint is a separate breach with its own remedies, so an employer who threatens you has usually strengthened your position. Keep the evidence. Text messages and emails are the most useful because they are dated and unambiguous.
What should you write down, and when?
Everything, at the time, in whatever form is easiest to keep. Dates, times, what was said or done, where it happened and who else was there. A note made the same evening carries far more weight than a reconstruction three months later.
Keep the record somewhere that is not the employer's system, because access to a work email or roster app disappears the moment you leave. Be careful with recordings: the law on recording a conversation without consent differs between states, so a recording lawful in Queensland may not be in Victoria. Written notes carry no such risk.
Does bad treatment usually come with other breaches?
Frequently. A workplace prepared to break one set of rules is often breaking others, and the ones that cost you money are quieter than the ones that make you miserable.
Check whether you have been paid the award rate for the hours worked, whether 12% super has reached your fund for each completed quarter, and whether payslips have been issued at all. Those are separate claims with separate processes, and they survive your leaving the job. Our guides on an employer not paying correctly and unpaid super cover how each is pursued.