Campaign in the News . . . It's getting meaner. This rude behavior has been called everything from workplace incivility to psychological aggression.
Lawyers call it a hostile work environment.
From the schoolyard to the workplace, bullying is loosely defined as repeated aggressive behavior that deliberately causes physical or psychological torment. Called the silent epidemic, it is only in recent years that bullying, long the subject of exhaustive research and public debate abroad, has begun to emerge as a major workplace issue in corporate America. Lawyers also note an alarming uptick in workers' compensation claims and hostile work environment lawsuits churning through the nation's courts. And more of us say we feel we are at the mercy of a bullying boor. The bully busters, of course.