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Fighting Workplace Bullying
Legislative efforts are taking place at the state level to combat workplace bullying. Unless HR develops -- and enforces -- zero-tolerance policies that deal with such abuse, a litigation and legislative groundswell may occur, experts say.
Every HR executive has met one -- the workplace bully who makes life hell for his or her targeted victim. HR executives also know it' s hard, if not impossible, to get rid of the office bully. He or she may be a brilliant moneymaker or technician, maybe even the boss' s pet -- or the boss. The company may just be afraid of a lawsuit. Tolerance toward office abuse is changing, however. Society has become sensitive to the dangers of unchecked bullying in schools and may be ready to confront the adult bully through tougher policies or legislation. The Healthy Workplace Act, which has been introduced in 12 states, gives victims of bullying the right to sue for damages for psychological harassment. And the number of victims may be significant. In a recent nationwide poll of 1,000 adults commissioned by the Employment Law Alliance, nearly 45 percent said they had worked for someone they considered abusive; 65 percent said victims should have legal recourse. The workplace is the last place that abuse is tolerated in our society, says Gary Namie, senior consultant with Work Doctor Inc., and director of the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute in Bellingham, Wash. "Employers spend a fortune on violence prevention. Everyone's worried about [employees] going postal, but what about psychological damage?" says Namie. Victims of office bullying aren't likely to go "postal," Namie says. And they aren't so-called nerds, either, he notes. Victims are generally independent-minded, well-liked and ethical people who want to get along with everyone. As a result of abuse, they suffer depression and other psychological and medical problems. The cost to the company is in absenteeism, lack of productivity and high turnover, experts say. "They feel helpless and out of control. It consumes them," says Kristin Lawniczak, owner of New Hope Counseling Center Inc. in Green Bay, Wisc., and a counselor with employment-assistance programs. "The problem is a lot of people don't identify it as bullying. Generally they think it's something they're doing. ... We teach them ways to be self assertive." HR needs to develop zero-tolerance policies that deal with office abuse -- and then enforce them, says Stephen J. Hirschfeld, CEO of the Employment Law Alliance and an employment lawyer in the San Francisco office of Curiale Dellaverson Hirschfeld & Kraemer. Unfortunately, HR usually doesn't have the authority, Hirschfeld says. "My HR clients know who the bullies are. Upper management won't do anything because [the bullies] are results-oriented employees," such as top sales executives or computer gurus. Victims of office harassment don't fall into a protected category like sex, race or disability. That's why anti-bullying advocates are pushing for the Healthy Workplace Act, which has been introduced in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington. Anti-bullying laws already exist in many European countries and in Quebec. "The bottom line is few legal protections are available. It fills a fairly significant void," says David Yamada, a professor at the Suffolk University Law School in Boston and president of the New Workplace Institute. Yamada, who wrote the model bill, studied tort cases brought over the past three years for the "intentional infliction of emotional distress" and found that most courts were "extremely hostile to the claims. Even where there was severe psychological and physical distress, the courts were unwilling to let the cases proceed to trial." The state workplace-bullying bills include protections for companies, such as a $20,000 cap on emotional damages, Yamada says. "There are built-in defenses for employers. ... [They] can avoid litigation by showing they acted responsibly. ... It's not my desire to create a groundswell of litigation." But that's exactly what some employment lawyers predict. "The human resource community had better look to address this proactively, or they'll end up with legislation ... [that] would open the floodgates and allow courts and juries to define abuse," warns Hirschfeld. "Employers ought to act against [abusive] employees. But it ought to be done out of good human resources [policies and practices], not a new statutory mandate," says Michael W. Fox, an employment-law attorney at Ogletree Deakins, who blogs at http://employerslawyer.blogspot.com. "[HR executives] have to align their values with their actions. ... For example, in a law firm, are you going to permit a big rainmaker to get upset [and] tear the phone out of the wall? ... If the answer is 'yes,' your values are not aligned with your words," Fox says.
April 30, 2007 Copyright 2007© LRP Publications |
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