Australian Man Claims His Former Boss Bullied Him with Farts, Wants $1.3 Million in Damages

The Victoria Court of Appeal in Australia had to consider setting an explosive precedent this week when it heard the case of a man who claimed he was bullied by the sound and smell of his supervisor’s farts.

David Hingst, an engineer working in Melbourne, filed a lawsuit seeking almost $1.3 million in damages from Construction Engineering, his employer from May 2008 until April 2009. During that time, Hingst claimed his supervisor, Greg Short, would enter Hingst’s windowless office several times a week to pass gas. Hingst alleged the farts were pointedly aimed in his direction or on his person, which Short purportedly found amusing.

Hingst didn’t and took to calling Short “Mr. Stinky,” which would seem to indicate a degree of levity on Hingst’s part. But the employee said he was tormented by the farting and argued in the lawsuit that it should be considered a form of assault.

The court disagreed, asserting that Short’s behavior did not rise to the level of bullying or harassment and that Construction Engineering had not been negligent. They did not rule on the facts of Short’s farting, which the defendant admitted he “may have done” once or twice. Hingst told reporters he plans to take his case to the High Court for one final appeal.