Category Archives: Legislation

Mercy, what will become of us?

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usatoday.com

Shortly after the shooting began in Newtown, Connecticut many Facebook advocates  suspected bullying as a root cause. But, it was clear that the media had learned an ethical lesson from erroneously making that link too quickly after Columbine. In fact, Education Week has found that for some time the Newtown School District did everything right to prevent bullying. Later, in response to false reports that Adam Lanza’s mother was a teacher at the elementary school, advocates were intuitively convinced that Lanza was exacting revenge for his mother against an egregious bully boss. By now we all know that Nancy Lanza had no relationship with the school.

Dr. Peter Ash, a forensic psychiatrist told CNN: “Killers tend to blame others, not themselves, for their problems. Mass killers tend to target people whom they imagine would torment them, or whom they blame for their distress.” Bullying has long been considered a risk factor for workplace shootings but it is not necessarily causal. Joe Scarborough, a conservative advocate of gun rights, spoke for many republicans who were deeply conflicted by the school massacre: “It is time for Congress to put children before deadly dogmas… For the sake of my four children and yours, I choose life and I choose change.” But, not everyone is willing to put rhetoric aside. Yesterday the Workplace Bullying Institute highlighted the massacred teachers of Sandy Hook Elementary School as martyrs and denounced the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and the incendiary profit-driven Michelle Rhee. None are school teachers. They pontificate from a fly-over altitude…” The WBI article ends  with a call to supporters: “To honor these martyrs, the next time the teacher haters rev up in 2013 with proposed legislation, join us in calling them exactly what they are.  Continue reading →

Can You Sue Your Bully Boss? Maybe…

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photo: vacation2usa.com

Here’s an article by Jon Rehm of the Nebraska law firm, “Rehm, Bennet & Moore” who starts by saying  “if you are being bullied at work, you should document the bullying, try to constructively confront the bully and speak with HR if the bullying continues. If bullying is persistent, you should also consider looking for other employment.” Rehm poses possible solutions on how to deal with workplace bullying from a legal perspective.  Lots of interesting information…especially #2 Continue reading →

Can Nevada Expand Discrimination Law To Fight Workplace Bullying?

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Journalists often cite that 20 states have introduced the Healthy Workplace Bill but what goes unreported is that quite a few of these bills are radically different from the “model template” described in the press.  For instance, New Jersey, the only HWB bill currently active,  proposes that a regulatory agency impose a fine of not more than $25,000 on abusive employers. Despite this, and the lack of a private right of action, NJ receives strong support from the HWB campaign as the 10th state to introduce the HWB. The HWB from Nevada proposed expanding discrimination law already in place. The official HWB website clearly labels Nevada AB 90 one of their 20 HWB’s and voices support on their site: “… we thank Mr. Segerblom and wish him luck. Nevadans need to contact him to ask how to help.” Patricia G. Barnes is a judge, licensed attorney, and legal writer who is a recognized expert on workplace abuse and bullying. She describes the Nevada bill and a variety of other possible approaches in her new book, “Surviving Bullies, Queen Bees & Psychopaths in the Workplace which is a must read for lobbyists, journalists, and legislators involved in this issue.  Here’s an excerpt: Continue reading →

Canada, Workplace Bullies, and The Law

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Wal Mart Canada CorpHere’s an article from the Canadian Workplace Legal Post which is a reminder to everyone involved in the U.S. workplace bullying movement that a variety of solutions can, and should, be embraced and supported. Canada has been  strengthening their Workers Comp and OSHA regulations to be effective tools that can protect their workers:

Big Jury Award Arising from Workplace Bullying

Appropriate conduct in the workplace is ever changing. The most recent shift concerns bullying in the workplace, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the stern, often aggressive management styles of yesteryear may no longer be appropriate in the Canadian workplace. In light of this change in attitudes, employers must take note or suffer what may be very serious consequences, which are perhaps no better evidenced than the recent jury ruling by the Ontario High Court of Justice, which awarded 1.46 million dollars to an employee who claimed her manager bullied her. Continue reading →

Utah’s unique approach to workplace bullying legislation worth a second look

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Utah State Capitol

Utah State Capitol

Utah’s HB 196, Abusive Workplace Policies Act, was defeated last spring but it had some unique and refreshing aspects.  Despite placing the ill-conceived hurdle of “malice” in the path of victim/targets — something even Healthy Workplace Bill (HWB) advocates are finally acknowledging needs to be retired — HB 196 would have required Utah’s state agencies to create policies and conduct management trainings to protect their public employees. Most experts agree that the key to stopping and preventing workplace bullying rests in the hands of the employer. And, in this case state agencies could have simply expanded harassment, discrimination, or workplace violence training already in place — similar to municipalities like Ventura County, California have done recently. [see our article on Ventura].  This bill was supported by the Utah Public Employees Association.   UPEA also supported HB 251: Utah Personnel Management Act Amendments saying, “as a result of a 2010 legislative audit noting that only 8% of state managers have any management training, UPEA asked Rep. Brad Daw to sponsor this bill, which requires DHRM to develop a manager and supervisor training.” Looks like those legislative audits come in handy after all.

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Will Supreme Court strengthen or weaken harassment protections?

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We’re in a university setting here, so let me give you a university hypo. There’s a professor, and the professor has a secretary. And the professor subjects that secretary to living hell, complete hostile work environment on the basis of sex, all right? But the professor has absolutely no authority to fire the secretary. What would the Seventh Circuit say about that situation? [Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan]

Would the Professor be considered the Secretary‘s supervisor in an harassment case — making the employer liable for his actions? I’ll give you the short answer offered up by the Obama Administration’s Deputy Solictor General Srikanth “Sri” Srinivasan — NO. Today’s Supreme Court hearing on Vance v. Ball State featured intense questioning from the justices.  Vance’s attorney, Daniel Ortiz, argued “as Justice Kagan’s question revealed, it produces truly perverse results. Someone who can tell you what to do in your job day-to-day, manage you during the whole job period, what kind of tasks you have to do, was not necessarily considered a supervisor, while the person upstairs in human resources that you may never see or even know would be considered your supervisor.” Continue reading →