The Bully Problem

Across the country, state legislatures are considering so-called bullying legislation for the workplace.  Under most state laws, if bullying is based on one of the protected classes (race, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability or some other protected class under state law), this would amount to unlawful harassment.  If it’s just regular bullying, it’s not unlawful, unless the bully commits an assault or battery.

I have concern about this legislation, because it will open up a whole new avenue of litigation against employers, and the litigation will necessarily be based on a somewhat nebulous piece of legislation, no matter how hard legislators try to make it specific.

But with articles about bullying like this (even though the incident described has nothing to do with the workplace), it’s likely that bullying legislation will eventually become common.  If you are a manager or supervisor, it’s your responsibility to keep bullying from occurring.  If you won’t do it voluntarily, then you’ll end up with a law that forces you to.

1. 

   John Phillips says:

   March 28, 2008 at 1:38 pm

   Thanks for the mention. Interesting to see what Wisconsin is beginning to do.