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May 18, 2007

Bullied at Work? Recourse Is Coming

Workplace bullying is a huge issue. Here’s how I know: A few years ago, we commissioned a piece, which turned into several, on the subject. Every time we feature this content, we get scores of letters from bullied workers, thanking us for talking about the issue and recounting their horrific stories. Many have suffered in silence, dealing with the fallout to their personal lives and careers.

Well, these long-suffering workers may now have some recourse. According to this BusinessWeek article, six states are considering laws that would make bullying “an unlawful employment practice.” That means it’s legally actionable.

I really hope the threat of being sued prompts companies to stop sweeping this important issue under the rug and deal with it directly. If you’ve got a bully worker on your team, these articles can help:

And if you’re a worker who’s being bulled, check out these resources:

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Posted by Christine on May 18, 2007 at 09:15 AM in Current Events , The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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Through years of experience, I have found that there are some bullies that know how to make themselves look misunderstood, and keep their jobs, no matter how many co-workers complain about them.

I know one woman who was so toxic, she had her entire crew ask to be transfered at the same time. But because she had cleaverly spent a lot of time making ties to upper management, she was spared, even when she was accused of sexually harrassing another woman. If she had been a man, she would have been fired on the spot, but she was so skilled at making it look like everyone else was predjudiced against her, she remained in positions of leadership, and was even kept on when every one else was laid off.

My advice is to protect yourself from such people by requesting to be transferred away from them, and then avoid them as much as possible. Confronting people like this directly, especially if they have created bonds with higher-up, will only hurt your own upward mobility.

Posted by: Merry Clingen | May 24, 2007 9:23:14 AM

Having read the Bullying boards on this website I can say that some of the situations are incredible. There are people who have been physically assaulted at workplaces and fear taking action or reporting it. Mobbing makes it impossible for the target to tell the truth and find work again.

Until I became familiar with this topic, I had never heard of it and never knew that this was so common. It still amazes me that criminal charges cannot be brought in many of these cases. The financial costs of bringing a civil case make it impossible to file. At Will employment means that the employer and others can play these games as long as he/she wants and never have to be held for it. Amazing. We allow this behavior and know what it costs us.

This phenomenon is not about "teasing" or an argument. It is long term and deliberate and results in financial loss for the target and the company. It costs everyone big time and yet is hidden from view, covered up and lied about every day. We always see that the attackers accuse the target and then make every attempt to discredit the person. Even the target finds the situation hard to believe and tries to ignore the attacks. They cannot be ignored or explained away, as much as everyone else tries to assist the attackers in order to preserve their own jobs.

In no other situation would we allow this kind of systematic, sadistic behavior to go unchallenged. We have laws re domestic violence and other protective legislation yet we have no way of protecting the livelihoods of millions of workers. This makes no sense and never will.

Since there are no organizations able to prevent this or offer genuine resolutions for workers, we will see intervention by outside entities, such as government. When situations are out of control and harmful, someone has to act. If the organization itself is invested in ignoring the activity or covering it up, it is unable to police itself.

The worst part of all of this is that action is necessary at all. It is pathetic that business cannot mandate that its own staff and management act responsibly. Any legislation designed to protect workers has to have teeth and be enforced or it is useless. If the worker cannot afford to file, law will not help the situation either.

Posted by: m | May 27, 2007 5:05:10 AM

Its true, bullying in the work place is bad. My time as a manager wasn't fun. For over a Year and Half i was physically and verbally harassed by my Asst MGR. I finally lost it one day, i walked, i was tired of the abuse. I had told this person to stop many times and it didn't. To this person, it was just fun. To me, i was falling behind on paper work, my sales, pretty much everything. I didn't want to report it because it would just make the whole situation worse. Theres no laws. Telling your bosses, 50% chance that they would believe you anyways. When i did quit, my bosses didn't want to listen, never even asked why i had to quit. Now i know staff quits, but when a manager quits. Questions should be brought up. They weren't, actually the person doing the bullying got promoted. I just have to say, laws need to be in place, when someone does quit, questions should be asked.

Posted by: Gerry Dionne | Apr 16, 2008 10:20:16 AM

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