On her return, she found her boss publicly ridiculed her at a company-wide meeting, gave her repetitive tasks to perform and excluded her from executive retreats that she had once planned. When she formally complained, her boss got her diary and spread word to co-workers what she had written about them. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just upheld this unprecedented judgment against workplace bullying in advance of National Freedom from Bullies Week, Oct. 15-21, which aims to end terror tactics that don't stop with the school yard. Va. Recent surveys report that 1 in 6 American workers has been the target of workplace bullying within the last year, yet companies repeatedly ignore it because it seldom results in lawsuits or other relief short of the victim leaving the job. We need to be on the watch now for bullying and other abusive workplace behavior.
Workplace bullying is a gray area the courts have only begun to explore.
Until Zimmerman's lawsuit, most employment experts thought bullying complaints outside these protected classes would simply evaporate. The husband and wife psychologists are behind the California bill and founded the Campaign Against Workplace Bullying, which has sponsored Freedom From Bullies Week since 1998. We must work to uncover and reverse atrocities one person, one company and one law at a time. And that doesn't count the cost of recruiting and replacing workers who leave as a result. All Rights Reserved.