Disability, workplace bullying and welfare to work reforms

Workers with disabilities have received limited attention within the workplace bullying literature. This paper introduces a conceptual framework that situates workplace bullying within a disability employment framework and proposes cyclic implications for disabled and non-disabled workers, the operator provider model for disability employment assistance and the welfare to work reforms (DEWR, 2005). The main implication proposed is that workplace bullying may impact on returning disabled and non-disabled workers to the initial phase of employment placement, or resultantly returning to, or becoming a new recipient of the Disability Support Pension, dependant upon the severity of the consequences. In response to other literature advocating the use of emotions as a remedial action, self efficacy is also explored as a prospective moderating variable within the framework.