Bullying Documentation Tips Checklist: Your Guide to Workplace Safety

When you're in the middle of a difficult situation at work, a checklist is easier to follow than another long article. Print this, save it, or keep it open on your phone the next time something happens.

Immediately after an incident

• Write down the date and time as soon as you safely can
• Note the exact location — meeting room, group chat, phone call, car park
• Record who was involved and anyone else present
• Capture what was said or done, in as close to their actual words as possible
• Note how you responded at the time
• Record the effect on you — did you have to leave, lose sleep, redo work afterward

Building your evidence file

Related: Workplace Bullying - Essential Steps to Document and Report.

• Save original emails and messages, not just partial screenshots
• Screenshot chat threads with timestamps and names visible, not just the offending line
• Forward important emails to a personal account in case you lose work access
• Keep calendar entries and rosters that support your account, such as proof of exclusion or unreasonable deadlines
• Store everything somewhere outside work systems, backed up in a second location
• Consider a dedicated app like Bully Log, which timestamps entries automatically — a genuinely contemporaneous record carries more weight than a diary written up later from memory

Checking it meets the bar

• Is the behaviour repeated, not a single isolated incident?
• Is it unreasonable — humiliating, targeted, or applied unfairly compared to others?
• Could a reasonable person looking at this objectively call it unreasonable, not just unpleasant?
• Is it different from fair management action — reasonable feedback, restructuring, or a proper disciplinary process delivered respectfully?
• If unsure, have you talked it through with a union rep, trusted colleague, or support line?

Before you report

See also: Master Bullying Documentation Tips Tips for Workplace Safety.

• Have you checked your workplace's bullying and harassment policy for the process it commits to?
• Have you identified the right person to report to — usually your manager, or HR/their manager if your manager is involved?
• Have you drafted a chronological, factual summary rather than a character judgment of the other person?
• Have you decided what outcome you want — mediation, an apology, a formal investigation, a change in reporting lines?
• Have you kept your own copy of everything you're about to submit?

After you report

• Did you get acknowledgment in writing, and a rough timeframe for what happens next?
• Are you continuing to log anything relevant that happens during the process?
• Are you watching for retaliation — reduced hours, further exclusion, sudden disciplinary action — which is itself unlawful if it's in response to a genuine complaint?
• If internal steps stall, do you know that the Fair Work Commission can issue a stop-bullying order for ongoing behaviour, the Fair Work Ombudsman can advise on your rights, and your union can represent you throughout?

Looking after yourself throughout

• Are you using your Employee Assistance Program if one is available — confidential and free?
• Have you spoken to your GP if stress, sleep or mood are being affected?
• Have you told someone outside work what's going on?
• Are you pacing your documentation so it's sustainable over weeks or months, rather than something you burn out on after a fortnight?

This is general information, not legal advice — for anything formal, a conversation with your union or an employment lawyer will tell you exactly where you stand. But a checklist like this, followed consistently, is often the single biggest factor in whether a bullying complaint is taken seriously or quietly forgotten.