June 16th, 2009
The "B" Word That Won't Go Away
Bullying: The “B” Word That Won’t Go Away
By John Robinson, Director, Office of Civil Rights, US Dept of State
State Magazine, June 2009
The article cites Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s answer to a staffer’s question: “You know, I have zero tolerance for any kind of bullying. I find it intolerable. I hate people who use a position of either superior rank or physical dominance or any other aspect to lord it over or mistreat other people, especially those in the workplace.”
You can read the context of Secretary Clinton’s March 12, 2009 comment here. Scroll to page 9 to read the question from staffer Shirley Miles and Clinton’s response.
In the State magazine article, Director and Chief Diversity Officer Office of Civil Rights Robinson (202-647-9294) astutely writes: “Managers, be aware: If someone in your office has the characteristics of a bully, it is your duty to counsel that person before his or her behavior creates an uncomfortable situation for your other employees, harms others, leads to workplace violence or subjects the Department to legal vulnerability because timely action was not taken. Finally, ask yourself (or, better, ask others who will be honest with you) if you yourself rely on intimidation or scare tactics in your leadership style as a form of workforce control. Everyone deserves to work in an environment that is safe and bully-free.”
Read Robinson’s one-page essay.
Kudos for taking the first step toward raising awareness. How long before State Dept. employees enjoy protection that only an explicit policy and credible enforcement procedures can make likely?
Tags: Clinton, federal workers, John Robinson, OCR, State Department
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 8:11 am and is filed under Bullying in the News, Employer Action/Inaction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
What can we do to support this and make it a protection law?
Thanks
Roxanne Marion
Not described here but at one of our other sites is the very active, but not yet completely successful, WBI Legislative Campaign. Law professor David Yamada wrote the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill and we have been advocating for it since 2001. There are volunteer State Coordinators in 26 states working to get the bill passed into law.
Since 2003, 16 states have introduced some version of the HWB. Go to our WBI-LC website to learn more and sign up as a Citizen Lobbyist.
http://workplacebullyinglaw.org
GN
The link to the one page essay has been updated with the correct URL.
Sorry if it caused any inconveniences!
I tried to get into this web site to read this & it shows to be under construction. I would like to sign this and learn more. I have been part of the workforce for 30 years and never knew this existed until I started with my current employer. I am experincing this torture every day for the last 7 years with my current boss. There is no place to go for help and if you do seek assistance the punishment/retaliation becomes hostile and can become violent. The legislators need to pass a law now to stop this. They need to make this a criminal offense. The person doing this to employees need to be punished. These situations are the same as being in a abusive relationship married or not. This inflicting medical issues and some times death behind their actions.
The home of the US movement to enact anti-bullying legislation for the workplace, the WBI-Legislative Campaign website, is under revision now because it is “off season” in the state legislatures. We expect to have a new, beautiful, fully functional site sometime in September. The less-than-up-to-date information still lurks there behind the front page. For now, follow this link. Thanks for caring. You can sign up to be a citizen lobbyist in your state at any time. Call 360-656-6630. Gary Namie
Bullying is rampant at the State Department. I applaud the Secretary’s remarks and stance but not enough is done at the lower levels of the Bureacracy for this problem to change. I should know since I was bullied there and resigned for a new job elsewhere in gov’t.