What Is Power Harassment

What is power harassment? It is harassment carried out through legitimate authority rather than against it. A manager using the powers of the role to diminish, isolate or wear down a particular person.

The difficulty is that every individual act can look like management. Allocating unpleasant work. Setting tight deadlines. Giving critical feedback. Excluding someone from a meeting. Withholding information they need.

What distinguishes it is pattern and proportion. Directed consistently at one person. Out of proportion to the work. Applied to them and not to others doing the same job. And serving to diminish rather than to manage.

The term itself is not used in Australian legislation. The conduct is generally addressed as bullying, or as discrimination where it connects to a protected attribute.

Safe Work Australia covers psychosocial hazards. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s bullying course for managers and psychological safety course for managers.