Stop Bullying in the Workplace

I am writing to you to please contact their senator to support Senate Bill No. 699, the Healthy Workplace Bill. The purpose of this bill is to provide workers with a legal claim for mailcious bullying behavior that has caused physical or psychological harm without regard to protected class status. It imposes liability on both individual aggressors and employers while encouraging employers to prevent bullying from occurring. (This bill also discourages weak and frivolous calims from clogging our courts).

According to a 2007 national survey by Zogby International and the Workplace Bullying Institute, nearly 40 percent of workers have experienced workplace bullying, and almost two-thirds of these workers were eventually pushed out of their jobs. More than 62 percent of employers who received complaints about workplace bullying either ignored the problem or made it worse.

Three-quarters of workplace bullies are supervisors. They make false accusations of errors and mistakes, yell, shout, and scream, exclude their victims, withhold resources and information necessary to the job, sabotage and defame behind-the-back, use put-downs, insults and excessively harsh criticism, and make unreasonably heavy work demands.

I experienced bullying on a previous job where my employer ignored my requests to stop my supervisor from verbally harassing and making false accusations against me. While my employer gave me unemployment insurance to keep me quiet, my supervisor gave me a big smile as I exited her office. My experience impacted financial stress on my family.  As a result, I am working a lower-paying job in another field.

Passage of the bill will benefit the community by decreasing health problems associated with workplace bullying: stress disorders, clinical depression, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, impaired immune systems, symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and destructive impact on personal relationships. The law will also help businesses by increasing work productivity and morale, reducing absenteeism and turnover, and reducing employee benefit costs.

We as workers have a right to do our jobs without disabling interference. This bill will encourage employers to prevent behaviors that destroy productivity and morale and will support public health by reducing mistreatment that harms workers and their families and adds costs to our health care system.