The amount of bullying that takes place at work is a lot more than many people realize. Employees who are being systematically bullied are often too scared to speak up about it as they are worried that they could lose their jobs, especially if it is their supervisor or boss who is doing the bullying. There is often a fine line between occasional teasing and bullying. Bullying often involves intimidating someone verbally or physically because of their age, gender, color, race, religion or disability. This is illegal under state or federal anti-discrimination law, even if bullying as such is not directly addressed.
Bullied employees should contact an attorney for help if all avenues in their workplace have not led to a satisfactory outcome. Because bullying is illegal if connected with discrimination, an employee with sufficient proof may be able to sue their employer for allowing bullying to take place.
What is Workplace Bullying?
Workplace bullying is any kind of abusive behavior that involves any of the following:
- threats;
- humiliation;
- verbal or physical abuse;
- any kind of interference that makes it difficult for the employee to do their job properly.
Because many employees experience low level teasing or insults, it can be difficult to decide where this crosses the line into actual bullying. Bullying implies a difference in individual power. A boss, for example, is far more likely to bully an employee than the other way around. Similarly, a physically more powerful person or group of people may bully someone else who is less powerful. Actions become bullying when the person targeted experiences emotional or psychological stress, fear and / or is incapable of doing their job properly because of the bullying against them.
Although there is no specific state or federal law that addresses bullying in the workplace, anti-discrimination laws are often relevant, especially because most if not all bullying is associated with picking on someone because of a grouping to which they belong. For example, if you are an older worker and are experiencing bulling because of your age, then age discrimination laws, both federal and state make this illegal. You would have to have evidence that the bullying was aimed at you because you were older, e.g. taunts, abusive emails, innuendo, threats against you mentioning you as an older person.
What to Do If You’re Being Bullied at Work
If you are being bullied at work, then you should raise this with your HR department, supervisor or boss, even if this is not easy. Document your complaint and the response you get. This record may be needed if it gets to the point where you are considering filing a claim against your employer.
Remember that there may be no easy solution to bullying. Although it can be extremely stressful, it may not be illegal unless it is accompanied by obvious discrimination against you. This means that you should keep a record of all the bullying events that take place and why you think they were targeted at you e.g. because you are female, gay, black, old, etc. Keep a record of who was doing the bullying, what was said and by whom, when and where the bullying too place etc. If you have any hard evidence of the bullying such as emails, telephone messages, letters etc. then these could all prove valuable when you file a claim.
Speak to an Attorney
Bullying, especially if it is frequent and obsessive, can be very unpleasant and can cause mental stress and affect your job. You need to address the problem as soon as you can as left unchecked it can not only deteriorate, but the longer you leave it, the harder it might be to do something about it.
You do need to have evidence that you have been bullied and you have tried to get your employer to stop the bullying. You also really need to show that the bullying is connected with a case of discrimination against you. When you have tried all this without getting anywhere it is time to consider taking legal action. All cases of discrimination in the workplace, including cases of bullying, should be addressed to the EEOC in a claim. It is advisable to talk to an employment attorney before you do this, as he/she will know whether you have good grounds for a claim against your employer.
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