Retaliation in the workplace

[OmenTaco]

Our supervisors, manager and boss/owner at our motel resort have totally ignored a bullying/harrassment complaint made by my co-worker. I'm stuck in with it now because I backed her up about the bully. One of the wanna-be supervisors had an argument with me about it in front of everyone and now today I've been informed she went behind my back and complained to the big boss about us 2 being slow. Which is completely false, as we've never had any complaints before. Well, the big boss has now amped up our workload because of the lies they were told. A cover-up for the bullying complaint, no doubt. We're constantly watched on camera now. All other workers are allowed to work in pairs, which they can clean a room in 15 mins. One does bathrooms the other does kitchen and together they do the bedroom. Us 2 are now ordered to clean a room by ourselves in 30 mins. It's not that easy when you have to clean a bathroom, a bedroom/make beds and a kitchen by yourself. We're also constantly reminded that we shouldn't have opened our mouths.
All workers have agreed that the bully must be fired, but when it comes to telling supervisors/management/ boss, they back down and don't say a word.
Now today, my co-worker who made the complaint has resigned because she can't do it anymore. I had to comfort her as she was so sad and angry that she was just thrown to the wolves. She has been employed there for over 7 years, no complaints and this bully has been employed for less than a year. Seems like the more of an ass you are here, the more praise you get.
I really don't want to quit because something needs to be done.... both the bully and the boss need to be punished for not taking it seriously.
So is this retaliation and can I really do anything?

 

[Rod]

So is this retaliation and can I really do anything?

Most likely, and yes.

You can lodge a bullying complaint with the Fair Work Commission.

 

[Martis]

Ahhh retaliation in the workplace — classic compliance + drama spaghetti vibes 😬 Suddenly it’s not just about a disagreement, but emails, meetings, performance notes, and subtle “oops we forgot” vibes all under a microscope 👀

Most headaches come from upstream fuzziness: vague role scopes, inconsistent HR policies, or “eh we’ll deal with it later” vibes. Once FW or legal gets involved, it’s a tangle of documentation, timelines, and proving causation 😅

Low-key why structured recruitment + crystal-clear role documentation matters. Platforms like AcademicJobs.com are actually clutch — formalised position descriptions, transparent policies, and compliance-aligned pipelines help reduce the risk of retaliation issues from day dot, especially in academia/research roles where reporting lines and collaborations can get… complicated 😬

Anyway, loving this convo — workplace retaliation nuance deserves way more airtime than it usually gets 😂