Growing push to halt workplace bullying
Growing push to halt workplace bullying
Sunday, March 3, 2013
BY SAM HANANEL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Record
* More states are considering legislation to let employees sue for on-the-job harassment.
WASHINGTON Margaret Fiester is no shrinking violet, but she says working for her former boss was a nightmare.
"One day I didn't do something right and she actually laid her hands on me and got up in my face and started yelling, 'Why did you do that?' " said Fiester, who worked as a legal assistant for an attorney.
Fiester doesn't have to worry about those tirades anymore, but she hears lots of similar stories in her current role as operations manager at the Society for Human Resource Management, where she often fields questions about the growing issue of workplace bullying.
On-the-job bullying can take many forms, from a supervisor's verbal abuse and threats to cruel comments or relentless teasing by a co-worker. And it could become the next major battleground in employment law as a growing number of states consider legislation that would let workers sue for harassment that causes physical or emotional harm.
More:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/194594001_Growing_push_to_halt_workplace_bullying.html
DonCoquixote
(13,615 posts)they can say that bullying works in the office. Most offices are just high school with more money, and smoking areas instead of bathrooms.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)the workplace often resembles grade school if far too many ways.
raccoon
(31,092 posts)I was told by a lawyer that if I couldn't get the bully on race discrimination or sexual harassment, I was
basically S.O.L.
I think it's especially bad when the workplace bully is a county, state, or federal worker. Of course, it's bad no matter
if the bully is a gov't employee or not, but why should a person who's paid by taxpayers be allowed to get away with such crap?
Mopar151
(9,965 posts)I have run afoul of several of these - the remarkable ones can really do some damage.