Make a formal workplace complaint
Bullying, harassment or discrimination at work? Make the complaint stick.
If something at work is wrong and you want it to stop, the way you raise the complaint matters more than the fact that you raise it. Verbal complaints get forgotten, vague complaints get dismissed, and complaints that miss the right body never trigger an investigation. We help you document what is happening, draft a formal complaint that the employer has to act on, and lodge it with the right internal or external body to get the matter taken seriously.
What does making a formal workplace complaint involve and why does it matter?
A workplace complaint is the formal process by which an employee reports conduct that breaches the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act), the National Employment Standards, anti-discrimination legislation, the employer’s workplace policies, or the duty to provide a safe workplace. Bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, victimisation, and unsafe conduct can each be the subject of a complaint. The Act provides protection from adverse action for making a complaint, but the protections only attach to complaints made in the proper form and through the proper channel. A complaint that is verbal, vague, or routed to the wrong body often produces no investigation and no protection.
What kinds of conduct can I make a workplace complaint about?
You can complain about bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination on a protected attribute (sex, race, age, disability, sexuality, religion and others), victimisation, unsafe conduct, breaches of the employer’s policies, and breaches of your workplace rights under the Act. We work out which framework actually fits the conduct on the first call.
Where do I lodge the complaint?
Internal complaints usually go to your manager, HR, or a designated complaints officer per the employer’s policy. External bodies include the Australian Human Rights Commission, state-based anti-discrimination tribunals, the Fair Work Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman, and SafeWork. The right body depends on the conduct; lodging with the wrong body wastes time and can let the conduct continue.
Will my employer retaliate against me for making a complaint?
Making a workplace complaint about your workplace rights or about prohibited conduct is itself a protected activity under the Act. Adverse action taken against you because of the complaint can be the subject of a general protections claim, which is heard in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and attracts uncapped damages and civil penalties.
What happens if my employer does not respond to the complaint properly?
If an internal complaint is not handled properly, you can escalate to the Fair Work Commission (for bullying), the Australian Human Rights Commission (for discrimination and sexual harassment), a state anti-discrimination tribunal, or the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (for a general protections claim). The right escalation depends on the underlying conduct and what the employer did or did not do in response.
Complaint documented properly.
Dates, witnesses, words used, impact, and prior conduct all captured.
Lodged with the right body.
Internal, Fair Work Commission, AHRC, or state tribunal, chosen to fit the conduct.
Protection from retaliation locked in.
General protections framework engaged so adverse action becomes a separate claim.
Want the complaint to actually trigger an investigation?
Most workplace complaints fail because they are too vague, too late, or sent to the wrong body. The first call sets the complaint up to land.
You raised it informally. Nothing happened.
You have flagged the conduct verbally to a manager or in passing to HR, and the conduct has continued. You want to make a formal complaint, but you are not sure how to document it, where to lodge it, or whether making it formal will make things worse before they get better.
- We will identify the legal framework that fits the conduct.
- We will help you document the incidents: dates, words used, witnesses, impact, and any prior reports.
- We will draft the formal complaint and the supporting evidence.
- We will lodge it with the right body: internal, Fair Work Commission, Australian Human Rights Commission, or state tribunal.
- We will run the matter through to investigation, conciliation, and any external claim that follows.
The behaviour at work has not stopped and the informal route is not working.
Whether the issue is a manager singling you out, a colleague’s sexual harassment, discriminatory treatment based on a protected attribute, or repeated bullying that has compounded over months, the informal complaints have not changed anything. You want the complaint taken seriously, you want to be protected from retaliation, and you want a process that actually concludes.
What's included in your formal complaint service
- Identification of the legal framework that fits the conduct.
- Drafted incident log and supporting evidence.
- Drafted formal complaint addressed to the right body.
- Lodgement and follow-through with the internal or external body.
- Advice on escalation paths if the response is inadequate.
- General protections framework engaged for protection against retaliation.
What goes wrong with informal complaints.
Informal workplace complaints almost never end the underlying conduct. The conversation with a manager is sympathetic but produces nothing in writing. The note to HR triggers a meeting but no investigation. The conduct continues, the employee starts to doubt their own perception, and by the time a formal complaint is finally raised the documentation gap means the employer’s response is “this is the first we are hearing of it.” Without a documented trail and a complaint lodged in the proper form, the employee has no protection from retaliation, no record for any external claim, and no leverage to force a real investigation.
Here is how we get the complaint taken seriously.
We start by mapping what has actually happened and the legal framework it fits. The conduct gets documented in an incident log with dates, words used, witnesses and impact. The formal complaint is drafted to the right body, with the supporting evidence attached and the legal framework cited. Where the matter is bullying, we set up the Fair Work Commission jurisdiction; where it is discrimination or sexual harassment, the Australian Human Rights Commission or a state tribunal; where it is retaliation against a workplace right, the general protections framework. The complaint lands in a form the employer cannot ignore, and the protections against adverse action are engaged from the day it is lodged.
Three steps to a complaint that lands.
Document, lodge, enforce.
1
Complaint drafted.
We document the conduct in a structured incident log and draft the formal complaint.
2
Complaint lodged.
We lodge with the right body and engage the protection against adverse action.
3
Outcome enforced.
We run the matter through to investigation, conciliation, or escalation to the appropriate tribunal.
Employment lawyers who draft, lodge and run formal workplace complaints for employees.
Raising a complaint about conduct at work is one of the hardest things employees do, and almost always after months of trying to handle it informally. We have run workplace complaints across bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and general protections matters, and the lesson is consistent: complaints that are documented properly and lodged in the right place produce results, and complaints that are not, do not. Our team drafts the complaint, lodges it, and runs it through. You move from being ignored to being on a process that has to conclude.
We understand you want to know the cost, before we get started...
We will map out our process, from beginning to end, so you know what the journey will look like before you get started.
We will provide you with a clear and detailed Work Proposal covering each step along the way.
Our fair fees are all-inclusive. No hidden costs for telephone calls, emails, photocopying, couriers, or coffee.
Lodge the complaint in a form that has to be answered.
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