SEIU’s Workplace Bullying Legislation Stalled

New Hampshire’s 2013 version of the Healthy Workplace Bill HB 591 has been tabled for this year and a rewrite is in the works. Fingers crossed that legislators have recognized the need to remove “malice” from the text because it creates a virtually impossible hurdle for targets of abuse to overcome in order to actually use this law to protect themselves. We’ve written about this before and below is the SEIU article about New Hampshire.  We applaud SEA for getting this legislation started and hope they use this opportunity to bring in new voices as several other states have begun to do in order to craft a target centric approach that’s also fair to businesses (instead of the other way around).  Continue reading

Your Manager Is a Bully (but You Aren’t Helpless)

Browsing through the digital libray I found this great  NY Times Career Couch column from way back in 2007 and it deserves another read especially if you’re starting to wonder if that boss of yours is a bully:

Q. Your boss regularly berates you in department meetings, and the behavior is starting to become offensive to you. What should you do?

A. Think before you act. John McKee, president of Four Windows No Walls Consulting, a consulting firm in Sedalia, Colo., says that although it is never acceptable for a boss to belittle employees, reacting emotionally can prompt you to do something you will regret. Continue reading

Take Action To Stop Workplace Bullying

It’s a cyber wall of corporate shame.  Thousands of victims of abusive workplaces have left their tragic tales on a national petition demanding a solution for this silent epidemic.

Find your representative and send them a copy of the Care2 petition bearing over 7600 signatures.  Ask them to join the fight to stop workplace bullying.  If you’ve experienced this abuse first hand or have expertise in this area you can add your own information as well.  Continue reading

What Resources Best Prevent Workplace Bullying?

Coming Soon!

Four years ago workplace bullying was a phrase that few used or understood.  Fast forward to today and a simple google search filtered for a 24 hour period brings up dozens of pages of results.    Much of the time the term is inaccurately used and the information is outdated or without any real grounding.  Unfortunately, when this information is repeated over and over it carries the weight of “truth.”

This site has always been dedicated to bringing forward alternative scientific and academically reviewed information needed to create the type of dialog that helps educate employees, employers, legislators, practitioners, union reps etc etc etc move toward solid solutions.   We’ve joined forces with others to create a petition for national legislation (7500 signatures!), Wikis, videos, an International Facebook coalition and more.  Our most popular blog posts are those that question proposed legislation and the way that workplace bullying is framed by advocates in the media.  Surprisingly, most of that support comes from people involved in the movement.   We also focus heavily on bringing forward the voices of targets in video and print.  Continue reading

Beware the Angry Office Mob

Everyone Agrees With Me

Recently a woman, I’ll call her Sue, contacted me to share her  story of being physically harassed by an office thug.  The public humiliation included a stinging verbal assault of lies that culminated in: “…and it’s not just me.  I emailed everyone in the office and they all agree with me!”  The power of that sentence was not lost on Sue.  She knew that anything she now said about the incident to any of her co-workers would be perceived as coming from that far from equal framing: “defensive.”  Continue reading