Poor procedural justice (processes for making decisions)

Information for employers and workers about managing the risk of poor procedural justice.

What is poor procedural justice?

Procedural justice refers to how fair, transparent, and consistent workplace processes are when reaching decisions.

Workers may experience poor procedural justice during decision making, conflict resolution and performance management. They may perceive unfairness in the application of a process, untimely outcomes, a lack of transparency or inconsistency in outcomes.

For example:

  • applying organisational policies or procedures such as fair access to preferred shifts or overtime
  • allocating work and resources, or
  • managing job performance.

Risks related to poor procedural justice

Impacts can include:

  • emotional and cognitive reactions such as feeling helplessness, frustration and resentment
  • low morale, poor teamwork, low trust, and increased incivility and conflict
  • behavioural changes such as withdrawal from work activities and development of an ‘us vs them’ culture
  • stress, burnout and depression.

It can also have social and economic costs for workers, their family and the business.

The business may also experience legal and compliance risks if they fail to follow fair processes. Failure to follow fair processes may breach industrial relations or discrimination laws.

How to manage the risks

Employers/PCBUs

Under Work, health and safety laws (WHS), a person conducting a business of undertaking (PCBU) must take proactive steps to prevent risks associated with poor procedural justice, where it is reasonably practicable.

PCBUs must:

  • Eliminate health and safety risks at work, including psychosocial risks. If PCBUs are unable to eliminate risks, they must be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.
  • Manage risks associated with poor procedural justice and consider applying the risk management process (PDF, 556.72 KB) to assist in meeting their duties. This process involves consulting with workers to identify, manage, control, and review risks related to the hazard.
  • Identify and adopt effective control measures.  Find information about how to do this on our psychosocial hazards page.

The Managing psychosocial hazards at work code of practice will help you meet your responsibilities under WHS laws in NSW.

Workers

While at work, workers must:

  • take reasonable care for their own psychological and physical health and safety
  • take reasonable care not to adversely affect the health and safety of other persons
  • comply with reasonable health and safety instructions, as far as they are reasonably able, and
  • cooperate with reasonable health and safety policies or procedures, for example reporting workplace hazards and incidents.

Workers should report concerns to their employer if they experience harm related to poor procedural justice. This will ensure they get support and the PCBU can take action to address the risk.

If you have raised concerns about harmful workplace behaviour internally and no action is being taken, read our ‘Dealing with a psychological health and safety issue at work’ section for further assistance.

Examples of controls and actions

PCBUs must use the hierarchy of controls (PDF, 46.87 KB) and consider all relevant matters within Section 55D of the WHS Regulation 2025 when identifying appropriate control measures to eliminate and minimise the risk of poor procedural justice.

When choosing control measures you must consider all hazards present and how they may interact and combine.

Here are examples of controls that can help minimise harm.

  • Remove systemic unfairness from work systems and processes relating to WHS, recruitment, promotion, performance, management of harmful workplace behaviours and injury management.  Ensure these systems are designed in a way to minimise risk to workers, for example, they are transparent, applied consistently, timely, non-biased and clearly outline roles and responsibilities.
  • Redesign reporting structures to reduce conflicts of interest. For example, complaints able to bypass direct reporting lines and use of anonymous reporting channels.
  • Consult workers when setting work standards or performance expectations. Ensure they are achievable, and workers will not be penalised for things outside their control. Consult with workers in a timely manner about workplace changes and decisions affecting them, including reasons.
  • Provide systems to protect workers who raise safety concerns from discrimination (Sections 104-109 of the WHS Act prohibit discriminatory, coercive or misleading conduct).
  • Develop a leadership culture that promotes respect, fairness and transparency.
  • Regularly review policies, procedures, performance expectations and decisions to ensure they are appropriate, fair and reflect the needs of the workplace.
  • Provide information, training and instruction to workers and managers on workplace policies and procedures and when changes are made to systems of work.
  • Communicate workplace objectives and performance targets to ensure workers understand expectations.

Note: These are examples only. You must consult with workers to identify and implement control measures that eliminate or minimise the risks in your workplace, so far as is reasonably practicable.

Resources

  • Psychosocial hazards – SafeWork NSW. Information about what psychosocial hazards are, their effects and how to manage them.
  • Managing psychosocial hazards at work code of practice – SafeWork NSW. Practical guidance on complying with WHS laws, including how to identify and manage psychosocial risks in the workplace.
  • Designing work to manage psychosocial risks – SafeWork NSW. Practical support and information for PCBUs on using work design to manage the risk of psychosocial hazards.
  • Poor organisational justice – Safe Work Australia. This resource explains how unfair or inconsistent treatment and poor decision-making can create psychosocial risks. It offers guidance to promote fairness and transparency at work.
  • Fair Work Commission – Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal which provides advice and support on procedural fairness, including matters related to dismissal.
  • Psychosocial hazards request for service form – SafeWork NSW. Use this form to request assistance from SafeWork NSW. This can be useful if your business/workplace doesn’t have processes for you to report workplace conflict or you have reported it internally and no action is being taken.
  • Psychosocial hazards service standards – SafeWork NSW. Information about what you can expect from SafeWork NSW, and what we expect from you when you raise a psychosocial hazard issue.
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