A mother-of-two who said she was bullied by colleagues at The Good Guys took her own life after the firm failed to handle her complaints properly, a coroner has found.

Natasha Stojkoski had been working as a sales assistant at the appliance retailer for nine years before she died in Thomastown, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, in May 2021.

The passionate Richmond Tigers supporter was two days shy of her 39th birthday when she disappeared after celebrating Orthodox Easter with family and friends.

Her husband George searched for her in his car until he came across the scene of a fatal train accident, and police revealed his wife was the victim.

Ms Stojkoski’s death came more than two years after she was crushed in a workplace incident while using a warehouse vehicle to move stock on high shelves.

The accident in October 2018 left her unable to perform regular tasks and in chronic pain, and sparked a long battle with The Good Guys about alleged bullying over her injuries.

‘No one took my injury seriously,’ Ms Stojkoski wrote in a personal note.

‘This behaviour didn’t just affect my workplace. It had a big impact on me at home, due to the way I was feeling in the workplace.’

Natasha Stojkoski with former AFL player Nick Riewoldt. She was a passionate Tigers supporter

Natasha Stojkoski worked at The Good Guys in Thomastown for nine years (pictured)

The coroner found that Ms Stojkoski repeatedly reported the alleged bullying, but her manager and HR treated her as the problem.

They were unable to handle the situation properly due to inadequate training by The Good Guys, the inquest into her death found.

Ms Stojkoski suffered the injuries when she reversed the warehouse vehicle into an overhanging bulkhead, and was trapped under a wall for about ten seconds.

She injured her neck and shoulders and went home that night feeling stiff and sore with severe headaches and vomiting because of the pain.

Ms Stojkoski had previously worked at The Good Guys for eight years without issue.

Days later, her shift manager said there was no need to fill out an incident report because he was not on duty when the incident occurred. An incident report was filled out two weeks later.

Over the next few months, Ms Stojkoski sought medical advice and performed light work duties, but felt colleagues were bullying and isolating her.

She said members of management stopped talking to her and allegedly accused her of ‘taking advantage of the situation’ and not ‘pulling her weight’ at work.

Natasha Stojkoski took her own life in May 2021, following alleged bullying by her colleagues

Coroner Audrey Jamison said the managers ‘failed to provide assistance and made sarcastic comments to her about her having to undertake light duties since her injury’.

In August 2019, Ms Stojkoski told management four staff members were treating her unfairly, saying she felt ‘stressed, anxious and had difficulty sleeping, eating and was emotionally drained and exhausted’.

She wept as she told the store executive manager she felt bullied and isolated on the shop floor, that she was anxious going to work and still losing sleep.

Ms Stojkoski claimed the alleged bullies had also set up a group chat and intentionally excluded her.

She took two weeks of stress leave while she underwent a CT scan on her spine and was prescribed anti-inflammatories.

When she returned to work in late September 2019, the store executive manager said he had investigated her bullying claims and found Ms Stojkoski and the four alleged bullies were equally responsible for the relationship breakdown.

He encouraged her to approach them and try to resolve the disputes herself.

During the inquest, psychiatrist Gregory White said that response was inappropriate, and akin to victim blaming, ‘saying to the individual, “You’re a part of the problem, an equal part of the problem – all go away and sort it out.”‘

A coroner found Natasha Stojkoski’s bullying complaint was not taken seriously

Ms Stojkoski tried to claim workers’ compensation for her injury, but The Good Guys disputed her claim.

It was only partially accepted for the period between October and December 2019 because she was assessed as having physically recovered from her injuries. Her second claim for psychological injury was approved.

Ms Stojkoski was then sent to a clinical psychologist and the bullying claims were referred to HR, which requested a copy of the workplace injury incident report.

In an email exchange with HR, the store executive manager said: ‘Something doesn’t smell right.’

During the inquest, the store executive manager said, with the benefit of hindsight, that it may have appeared to Ms Stojkoski as though he had taken the side of the alleged bullies.

He agreed that he had become suspicious of her motives.

At one stage, he texted Ms Stojkoski about her bullying allegations, saying: ‘Tash, it doesn’t need to be like this…’

In her findings, the coroner said the manager had ‘the best of intentions’ to start with, but became frustrated and suspicious, eventually concluding that Ms Stojkoski was partly to blame.

Natasha Stojkoski (pictured) was married with two children

The HR manager was also criticised for ‘filibustering’ by claiming she didn’t have enough detail to investigate the bullying complaints, despite a number of emails and a 45-minute phone call.

The coroner said the way Ms Stojkoski’s bullying claims were handled ‘has caused me great disquiet’.

‘[It] reflects that The Good Guys’ training to its managerial staff on their obligations to employees around allegations of bullying was wanting and emblematic of poor leadership created by The Good Guys,’ she said in her findings.

‘The Good Guys did not instigate a fair and impartial investigation into Natasha Stojkoski’s complaints of bullying but instead favoured the team’s collective reasoning for their behaviour towards her.

‘They confabulated her complaints of bullying with others’ perception of her performance, effectively contributing to Natasha Stojkoski’s feelings of isolation and despair.’

She acknowledged there were some domestic factors contributing to Ms Stojkoski’s state of mind when she died, but they were ultimately insignificant compared with her bullying claims.

The coroner said there were no findings about whether Ms Stojkoski was actually bullied – it was enough that she felt she was bullied, and the situation was not handled appropriately.

Ms Jamison also said The Good Guys’ conduct throughout the coronial investigation was disappointing.

‘I often felt that they were attempting to hamper my investigation, rather than assist me to reach a position where I could comfortably discharge my statutory obligations,’ she said.

She said witness availability was compromised, and documents were not provided to their own expert.

Ms Jamison recommended The Good Guys develop detailed policies and procedures to address bullying complaints.

The Good Guys has been contacted for comment.

If this has raised any issues for you, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 for confidential crisis support. 

SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15863069/Mum-two-bullied-death-workmates-Good-Guys-devastating-warehouse-accident-No-one-took-injury-seriously.html