Petition to Pass the Healthy Workplace Bill in the 2015 Legislative Session

Click here to see and sign the Petition to Pass the Healthy Workplace Bill in 2015.

As the legislative session opens in Connecticut, we need to remind legislators that we care about the issue of workplace bullying and we want them to make it illegal.
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For more information on the bill, go to www.healthyworkplacebill.org. 

Abusive Workplace Bullying Affects 48% of Americans While Employer Reactions Lag

Abusive Workplace Bullying Affects 48% of Americans While Employer Reactions Lag

Results of scientific 2014 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey shows epidemic prevalence, women bearing the brunt of the bullying, employers failing to protect the bullied, and nearly unanimous support for creating a new law.

NEW BRITAIN, CT — Feb. 25 — The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) defined workplace bullying as “abusive conduct that is threatening, intimidating, humiliating, work sabotage or verbal abuse” in its 2014 national survey. Key results: 27% of all adult Americans have directly experienced it, 21% have witnessed it, 56% of perpetrators are bosses, 68% of perpetrators are men, and 60% of targets (recipients) are women.

Since WBI introduced workplace bullying to the country in 1997 public awareness has risen to 72% according to the new survey. Similarly positive is that the percentage of bullies who are bosses has declined over the years.

Employers do little to stop workplace bullying. The majority (72%) reacted to complaints in inappropriate ways: 25% did not investigate, 31% either discounted it as not serious or considered it routine, 11% defended bullies, and 5% actively encouraged the abuse.

In cases where bullying ended, targets lost their jobs 61% of the time — either terminated, forced to quit (constructively discharged), or voluntarily quit.

“Unfortunately the victims of this serious health-harming abuse are the ones asked to stop it,” says WBI director Dr. Gary Namie, “If there were a law as in Canada and other industrialized nations, employers would have to protect workers.”

According to the survey an overwhelming majority of Americans (93%) supported enactment of a new law that would protect all workers from repeated abusive mistreatment at work. Only 1% strongly opposed such a measure.

WBI commissioned Zogby Analytics to conduct the survey of a national representative sample of all adult Americans (MOE ± 3.2%). Crowdfunded on Indiegogo with major support from OnLock Digital Authentication LLC.

WBI is the first and only U.S. organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals, research, books, public education, training for professionals-unions-employers, legislative advocacy, and consulting solutions for organizations. 

CONNECTICUT FREEDOM FROM WORKPLACE BULLIES WEEK, OCT 16-22, 2011

CONNECTICUT FREEDOM FROM WORKPLACE BULLIES WEEK: 

Oct. 17, 10 am at Torrington City Hall, Mayor Ryan Bingham will proclaim Freedom From Workplace Bullies Week. Other mayors who will make proclamations: East Haven, Milford, Newtown. (There is still time to ask your mayor. Contact kathyhermes@rocketmail.com by Oct. 6. We have a prepared text.).

October 18: Speaker Karen Sumberg, DIRECTOR of the Center for Work-Life Policy, NEW YORK and author of a study on Gays In the Closet at Work. FOUNDERS HALL. 4:30 pm-6:00 pm.

October 20: "Is Connecticut Ready for Healthy Workplaces?: A Forum on Law, Psychology, and Society's Response to Abusive Conduct in the Workplace." Speakers include Tom Witt of New York Health Workplace Advocates, and Vicki J. Magley, Ph.D. Department of Psychology-University of Connecticut. Diloreto 001, 6:30-8:30 pm.

Please invite friends, students, colleagues! For more info about events, email hermesk@ccsu.edu.

Parking is free. You can use any lot, but the Manafort lot is closest. 
Map of campus: http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=4191 
Directions: http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=1378

The New Britain Library will also have a display throughout November on workplace bullying.

We also have T-shirts for sale for $15 at events. Cash or check.

Thank you for your support.

Kathy Hermes
Connecticut Healthy Workplace Advocates on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/5103936939/
Connecticut Freedom from Workplace Bullies Week on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=199136926803783

Workplace bullying a serious problem

Esque Walker 

Monday, April 11, 2011 

It was a remarkable day for the Texas Healthy Workplace Advocates in
Austin! 

On March 24, in the wee hours of the morning, eight women from the
grass roots organization Texas Healthy Workplace Advocates gathered on
the north steps of the state capitol in Austin waiting for the doors
to open. 

The women arrived armed and ready to meet with lawmakers in several
political districts across the state of Texas. The women had traveled
from Alvarado, Corsicana, Dallas, Fort Worth, Graham, and Houston to
speak to lawmakers about the prevalence and the devastating
consequences of workplace bullying. The group was there to shop a bill
for the next legislative session the Healthy Workplace Bill; we need
this bill in Texas. The group presented accounts of their bullying
experiences to lawmakers. 

There has been an increase in the number of complaints of workplace
bullying in Abilene, El Paso, Houston, and in Dallas and Tarrant
Counties. People in Texas are suffering because of abusive work
environments. Until there are laws we will continue to be plagued with
this problem. 

One member in the group stated, “I don’t want to die! But I can no
longer afford to live because of workplace bullying.” The stories
shared with representatives were powerful, touching, and captured the
essence of the problem. We just went in and did what needed to be
done; we told the truth about what has happened to us and other
members of the group. Please do not be fooled by the appearance and
the size of the group, there are a number of men in the group that are
targets of workplace bullying and there are a number of members
throughout the state of Texas. 

Overall there is disbelief that this is happening in Texas, shock
about the number of targets in Texas, and this behavior is not within
the legal statutes. In one of the representative’s office, they
couldn’t believe that workplace bullying is happening in Abilene. “It
is a Christian community” is the belief there — I explained to the
aide there is nothing Christian about workplace bullying. I felt sorry
for the guy. He said he had grown up in Abilene and he couldn’t
believe that a “Christian community” such as Abilene would allow this
to happen; he was devastated. 

I presented a profile of the Texas cities by ZIP code that have the
highest concentrations of targets; the list showed only 171 targets in
the cities of Abilene, Austin, Conroe, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El
Paso, Fort Worth, Garland, Houston, Irving, Killeen, Midland, Round
Rock, San Antonio, Temple and Waco. 

Texas lawmakers have been slow to focus on workplace bullying and the
devastation it is causing, however, I believe a small victory was won
last October when Mayor John Cook and the city council in El Paso took
an initiative to recognize bullying as an adult issue by issuing a
proclamation declaring the third week of October “Freedom from Bullies
week” in El Paso. This is the first official elected to an office to
show interest in the well-being of the people he serves. 

Workplace bullying is defined as repeated, health-harming mistreatment
of one or more people by one or more perpetrators that takes one or
more of the following forms: verbal abuse, offensive conduct/behaviors
which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating and work
interference sabotage. 

Additionally, workplace bullying is violence — it is emotional and
psychological destruction of an individual for the satisfaction of
another. 

This issue needs immediate attention. Not only does the behavior
impact the targets, their families, and the organizations; society as
a whole is impacted through social welfare programs that targets
forced from the workplace must depend on for survival. 

If bullying could be stopped and money once used to support targets on
social welfare programs, Texas politicians would be able to balance
the budget and have money left over for other things. 

Esque Walker is the Texas Coordinator for Texas Healthy Workplace
Advocates. 

New CT Bill, LA Times Article, and Recognizing Signs of Bullying

Please sign our Connecticut petition for the bill currently before the legislature: https://www.change.org/petitions/pass-hb-5464-act-concerning-state-employees-violence-and-bullying-in-the-workplace-in-connecticut#updates

The LA Times has published an interesting article about the Healthy Workplace Bill that is well worth reading: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-workplace-bullying-20110319,0,1767245.story
State bills against workplace bullying gain traction
Proponents say workplace bullying is widespread and procedures for dealing with it are ineffective. They back a model called the 'Healthy Workplace Bill.'

Texas Healthy Workplace Advocates has gained some recognition across the state, and this article offers some tips about how to recognize bullying in the workplace, which can be subtle and not always easy to admit: http://www.reporternews.com/news/2011/mar/18/abilene-workers-complaining-about-bullying-says/

Suzy Fox, a workplace researcher, has identified six common types of workplace bullying.

“Any of those, any one of us does once in a while,” Fox said. It’s when a pattern of behavior develops that bullying takes place, she said.

- Threatening or intimidating behavior. This can be verbal threats or nonverbal, like glaring, Fox said. Cyberbullying also can fall in this category, Fox added.

- Demeaning behavior. Not only does this include insults and put-downs, but also excessively harsh criticism of job performance, according to Fox.

- Isolation. The silent treatment, said Fox, or leaving the room when someone else enters or excluding them from work meetings.

- Abusive supervision. “That’s threatening you with job loss,” Fox said, or blaming workers for things that aren’t their fault, along with unreasonable work demands.

- Work sabotage. “That’s intentionally destroying or stealing your work or your material,” Fox said.

- Harm to reputation. This includes spreading rumors and also some cyberbullying that can ruin a worker’s reputation, Fox said.

Public Testimony Links on HB 5464 AN ACT CONCERNING STATE EMPLOYEES AND VIOLENCE AND BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE

Public Testimony for HB 5464 AN ACT CONCERNING STATE EMPLOYEES AND VIOLENCE AND BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE can be viewed at this link.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/CommDocTmyBillAllComm.asp?bill=HB-05464&doc_year=2011

The Petition on Change.Org from CT Healthy Workplace Advocates was submitted: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-Change.org-TMY.PDF

The Connecticut State University-American Association of University Professors was submitted: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-CSU-AAUP-TMY.PDF

Donna Monroe of the University Connecticut Human Resources Office provided testimony and some statistics about UConn: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-Donna%20Monroe%20-%20UCONN-TMY.PDF

Donna Monroe also presented testimony objecting to defining graduate students as employees: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-Donna%20Munroe%200%20UCONN-TMY.PDF

The following link is incorrectly labeled with my name, Katherine Hermes, and is in reality the testimony of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-Katherine%20Hermes-TMY.PDF

Connecticut AFL-CIO submitted testimony: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-Lori%20Pelletier%20-%20CT%20AFL-CIO-TMY.PDF

The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women submitted: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-PCSW-TMY.PDF

The University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association submitted: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-UCPEA-TMY.PDF

Katherine Hermes, Volunteer Co-coordinator for Connecticut Healthy Workplace Advocates: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-Katherine%20Hermes%20-CT.%20Healthy%20Workplace%20Advocates-TMY.PDF

Linda Denton, Certified Life Coach and Licensed Occupational Therapist: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-Linda%20Denton-TMY.PDF

Connecticut Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission submitted: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/LABdata/Tmy/2011HB-05464-R000217-St%20of%20Ct.%20Asian%20Pacific%20American%20Affairs%20Commission%20-TMY.PDF

New York Senate Passes Bi-Partisan Healthy Workplace Bill; Wall Street Journal Freaks Out!

 Please leave comments on the site of the article.

State Anti-Bully Law Would Let Workers Sue for Nastiness

Comments (16)

By R.M. Schneiderman

Amid the furor over Gov. Paterson’s furlough plan this week, few seemed to notice when the state Senate passed a bipartisan measure on Wednesday that would give workers who have been physically, psychologically or economically abused by their employers the ability to sue in civil court.

But opponents of the law, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are quickly lining up to say the measure’s passage in the state Assembly would result in lots of costly litigation.

One major issue: how to define what is and what isn’t abuse.

“Just because you’re fired doesn’t mean you were abused,” said Stephen Powers, the counsel to State Sen. Thomas Morahan, the bill’s sponsor.

Before filing a suit, a plaintiff would have to notify his or her employer of a pattern of abuse and must give the employer time to address the issue. Workers would also have to prove an employer acted maliciously.

Yet critics say the process of determining abuse can be complicated, and passage could lead to a spike in litigation, especially in New York City.

The bill states that verbal abuse includes derogatory remarks. “Who hasn’t worked in a workplace where there aren’t derogatory remarks?” said Jim Copland, the director of the Center for Legal Policy at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute. “Big corporate law firms, trading floors, these are exceptionally abusive work environments,” he said. “People are yelling, people are cursing, this is what happens.”

In a statement on Friday, the Bloomberg administration expressed opposition to the measure.

Supporters, including labor unions, say that workers currently have little recourse when they’ve been bullied at work. They cite a study by Zogby International and the Workplace Bullying Institute, a Washington State-based nonprofit, that found 37% of all Americans say they have experienced bullying on the job. Of that group, 45% of respondents reported stress-related health problems such as panic attacks and depression.

As it stands, workers in New York can sue their employers and co-workers for discrimination based on race, sex, age, disability, religion and sexual orientation.

Similar legislation is pending in 16 other states. If passed here, it would mark the first time a state established a standard, across-the-board civil mechanism for abuse and harassment claims.

“This is a tax on employment that instead of going to the government, it goes to lawyers,” said the Manhattan Institute’s Copland.

But it’s precisely that cost that will curb abusive workplace practices, countered David Yamada, the bill’s author and a professor of law at Suffolk University in Boston.

“The main impact of that bill will be preventive,” he said.

First introduced in 2008, the bill is currently in the labor committee of the state Assembly. Susan John, the committee’s head, says the bill would create a disincentive for companies to relocate to New York and may even lead some to leave the state.

“No other state in the country has a law like this,” she said.

Proponents like Yamada say it’s unlikely one provision would cause businesses to move. If the bill passes, he said, other states would likely follow suit.

Let's all help push NY Assembly Labor Comm Chair Susan John to move the bill.

Here's the page that only requires you check the boxes and fill in your message.

http://healthyworkplacebill.org/takeaction/hwb_writeofficial2.php?state=NY

Workplace Bullying: How do you handle it?

Today at The TakeAway the topic is, among other things, workplace bullying. Please visit the site and leave a comment about your experience. Here's what they want to know:

School bullying has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, but what about bullying at the workplace? According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, almost half of all American workers have either suffered workplace bullying themselves or been vicariously distressed by witnessing it. Nine states (including Illinois, New York, and Utah) have recently tried to make workplace bullying a crime, but there are still no federal laws in place to protect workers against bullying. Tomorrow, we're exploring the topic of workplace bullying, and want to know: Have you been bullied at work? If so, how did you handle it?

Do we as adult targets handle our bullying any differently than kids? Is the emotional toll the same, worse, more tolerable because we are older? These are things people need to understand. Bullying is a K-12 problem in most people's eyes, but we know it continues on into the workforce. What are the similarities and differences, in your opinion? 

Unions and Workplace Bullying

Unions: people hate them, unless they love them. I belong to the CSU-AAUP (Connecticut State University-American Association of University Professors), a bargaining unit for college professors. There is no benefit I have that I think other workers should be without. To me, the AAUP contract is the kind of document every worker in America should have, tailored to one's particular circumstances. But it does not have a provision on workplace bullying, and frankly, people don't go to the union when they are bullied, because the process is not that helpful. Unions in general need education when it comes to this problem.


I was delighted when President of CSU-AAUP, Dave Walsh, gave me the opportunity to speak to the union council about workplace bullying. Two years ago, when Connecticut's SB 60, a Healthy Workplace Bill, went down without a vote, CSU-AAUP passed a resolution saying they would support any such bill in the future. But this time I spoke more broadly, urging the union to support CT Raised Bill 5285, suggesting the union consider contract language similar to the Massachusetts SEIU/NAGE agreement of 2009, and finally asking them to actively work for a Healthy Workplace Bill. President Walsh sent a letter of support for HB 5285 and the union will discuss these other matters.


I am happy to see my union taking it seriously. All government workers, whether federal or state, are easy targets for bullies. People have a lot invested in jobs like this. I have noticed health care is another professional heavily affected, and one state is proposing a bill related only to health workers. 


The unions who support a Healthy Workplace Bill and workplace bullying legislation include the CT AFL-CIO, the New York State University Teachers, the Professional Staff Congress, and the Civil Service Employees Union (CSEA). CSEA is already educating its union stewards to recognize bullying and is negotiating contracts to include a workplace bullying protections. The Business and Professional Women of New York State also issued a resolution. 


Here is the contract language SEIU/NAGE of Massachusetts passed last year, in part:

The Commonwealth and the Union agree that mutual respect between and among managers, employees, co-workers and supervisors is integral to the efficient conduct of the Commonwealth’s business. Behaviors that contribute to a hostile, humiliating or intimidating work environment, including abusive language or behavior, are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. 

Such statements of mutual respect should not be controversial. Americans who still have jobs are spending more time at those jobs, usually under increasing pressure and stress these days. Recently, the Workplace Bullying Institute awarded one business a Bullyfree Workplace status for their hard work in creating a culture of respect. We need to see more bullyfree workplaces! 

Connecticut's HB 5285 moves forward: why that's good for all of us.

HB 5285: AN ACT CONCERNING STATE EMPLOYEES AND VIOLENCE AND BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE was voted out of the Labor Committee on the 9th and yesterday it was sent to Government Administration and Elections Committee.  It passed the Labor Committee on an unanimous vote.  That is a very positive sign. This a bill that mandates that the state receive information about complaints of workplace bullying and abusive conduct when it happens to state workers.

The Act defines workplace bullying as:  "Abusive conduct" means conduct or a single act of a state employee in the workplace that is performed with malice and is unrelated to the state's legitimate interest that a reasonable person would find hostile or offensive considering the severity, nature and frequency of the conduct or the severity and egregiousness of the single act. Abusive conduct includes, but is not limited to, (A) repeated infliction of verbal abuse such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults and epithets; (B) verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating or humiliating; or (C) sabotaging or undermining a person's work performance; 

The Act therefore largely uses the language recommended by the Workplace Bullying Institute in the Healthy Workplace Bill. 

While many in the movement are eager for a Healthy Workplace Bill to pass, what Connecticut is proposing--to study the problem--is a first step in establishing what many of us know firsthand: that bullying is a rampant workplace problem. A WBI-Zogby Poll found that 37% of workers reported being bullied at work. Add to that the number of people who have been witnesses to bullying, for whom the work environment also becomes stressful, and about half of all workers are affected by the problem. 

People just want to do their jobs. I was reading a book Employment Law in a Nutshell, 3d (West Nutshell) (Paperback) by Robert N. Covington, Ch. 5, pp. 326 and 327. I was very surprised to come across a discussion of bullying, and even the question of what happens when an employee commits suicide over bullying. The subject came up in a discussion of stress, but in one case, Swiss Company, Inc. v. Dept. of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations, 72 Wisc. 2d 46, 240 N.W. 2d 128 (Wisc. 1976) there was recovery when a bullying supervisor berated and harshly criticized the claimant, who had been working long hours and was under a great deal of stress. People in the 1970s were fighting for things like comparable worth legislation, equal pay for equal work, and so to find this first raised in the 1970s shouldn't be so surprising. But in this employment compensation claim, we see the nascent beginnings of what is now a movement.

The movement is about fairness. Contrary to some claims by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the workplace bullying movement is not anti-business. We value our jobs or we would not be fighting so hard to make the workplaces where we work healthy ones. HB 5285 does not affect private business. It measures instances of abuse of state employees. This bill will ultimately help make our work places, private and public, safer, healthier and more productive just by recognizing the problem.