New precedents may have been set for harassment in the office, with a workplace tribunal reportedly ruling a woman’s act of removing a colleague from her friends list was part of an act of bullying.

Sales administrator for the View estate agency, Lisa Bird, was found to have bullied fellow employee Rachael Roberts after she unfriended her on Facebook and victimised her in the workplace, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Ms Roberts claimed Mrs Bird had been belittling her in the office and complained about her to the agency principal James Bird after Ms Bird allegedly refused her properties fair display in the shopfront windows.

She said Mrs Bird responded to the complaint by telling her she was a “naughty little schoolgirl running to the teacher” during a meeting in January and then proceeded to delete her off of Facebook.

Ms Roberts, who suffered anxiety and depression which required her to take medication following the incident, went to the Fair Work Commission to report workplace bullying against her and the matter went to the workplace tribunal.

The tribunal found Mrs Bird’s act of unfriending Ms Roberts to be “unreasonable” and showed a “lack of emotional maturity”.

"Mrs Bird took the first opportunity to draw a line under the relationship with Ms Roberts,” Tasmanian Industrial Commission deputy president Nicole Wells said.

“She removed her as a friend on Facebook as she did not like Ms Roberts and would prefer not to have to deal with her.”

As well deleting Ms Roberts from her friends list the tribunal found Ms bird humiliated her in the office and damaged relations between Ms Roberts and her clients.