February 26th, 2010
Workplace Bullying Bills Alive in the States
Despite overwhelming state budget crises, the legislative campaign to enact anti-bullying laws for American workplaces rolls on. During this 2010 season, against all odds, the Healthy Workplace Bill (HWB), in various forms, is alive in nine states: Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Oklahoma, Kansas and Utah.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are among the over 250 who have sponsored the HWB. Multiple bills have been introduced in both Illinois and New York. New York Assembly bill A 5414 counts 35 assemblymembers as co-sponsors, that’s one-fifth of the Assembly. Some legislatures have modified or amended the HWB to apply to only state workers (IL, CT, WA) or to healthcare workers (UT) or to only conduct studies (CT). In several states (NY, NJ, MA, VT, and OK), the full bill is under now consideration. Two states (CT and IL) will hold committee hearings on the bill in early March. Massachusetts and UT have previously held hearings.
The Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) launched the U.S. workplace bullying movement in mid-1997. Starting in 2001, WBI principals began lobbying for legislation as amateurs. The work has grown into a national network of volunteer Coordinators in 29 states with varying levels of advocacy experience. WBI directs the citizen lobbyists to unify the message. WBI provides Coordinators with training, materials and the text of the HWB.
Suffolk University Law Professor David Yamada authored the HWB for WBI in order to provide employees with an avenue for redress when health-harming abusive conduct is not addressed by Civil Rights laws. Additionally, the bill does not mandate employer action or government involvement. It does reward good employers with freedom from vicarious liability when they take proactive steps to correct and prevent severe bullying behavior. The only employers who should fear the law are the ones that rely upon abusive tactics to manage.
Though 16 states have introduced several versions of the HWB since the first California bill in 2003, no state yet has passed the bill into law.
Tags: anti-bullying law, CT, David Yamada, Healthy Workplace Bill, HWB, IL, KS, MA, NJ, NY, OK, UT, VT, WBI
This entry was posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Legislative Campaign. 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.
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I live in Massachusetts and I definitely want to let my legislators know that I am in favor of the antibullying bill. Who should I contact and what is the name or number of this bill?
Thank you,
Charlene Galica
Hi Charlene,
This is a great question! Please visit the Healthy Workplace Bill website for more information.
Click on your state on the main USA map to see the legislative history and contact information for your representatives. We have provided an easy contact form so you can reach out to legislative coordinators for the Healthy Workplace Bill campaign. If you are interested in volunteering let them know.
Regards,
David Phillips
Workplace Bullying Institute
go to the US map and click on your state to get all the information: the Healthy Workplace Bill legislative campaign. GN
Why is there so much opposition to giving a “fair employment deal,” to Americans? With the expensive costs of retraining, evaluation, and hiring, wouldnt weeding out the workplace petty tyrants, that make a cycle of these expenses, be cost effective?
I am in Texas and I agree with the anti-bullying law. What can I do in Texas?
Go to the Healthy Workplace Campaign website, click Texas on the map and contact the State Coordinator there to volunteer. It’s that easy.
http://healthyworkplacebill.org
I work for a great company in La jolla california, but my manager has been bullying me and stressing me out so much that it has been hard for me to sleep at night and im always worried about what she has up her sleeve next. She has accused me of stealing company property, she has spread false rummors about me that people starting talking about me, i have complained to HR, other managers, even the general manager at that time and nothing has been done. This lady has had so many complaints against her and she has hurt people verbaly, she tries to get employees to have grudges against each other by gossipping (she said , he said ) and then she still has the guts to say i didnt mean it that way, or the best one yet , you must of understood me, and when she feels she´s going to get introuble, she plays the part of the victim and always gets away with it. I´ve heard from ex employees that she has had lawsuits against her and has lost all of them and she is still working for this company. I dont plan on quiting my job, cause my job is not my problem and i dont want her to keep treating peopl like crap. We all need our jobs especialy in theese hard times and finding a new one is not easy. I have tried talking to the labor commision and the lady who answered the call told me that they needed to know why she is treating me like this, i told her thats why im calling you if i knew i would of called a lawyer instead of the labor commision. I´ve been with this company for 6 years and ive done alot for this company the only thing is that i dont think that our CEO or PROPERTY MANAGER knows any of the things that happend in the work place because they stop at a certain level of management. I need to know the name of the bill so i can write to the legislation and try to move this bill here in california. We need to help people in the work place so they can feel good comming to work and not have to worry about whats next, what is my boss going to do next to get me fired or quit. Please help me and lets stick together and fight for our liberty and freedom against bully bosses.
The best way to deal with a bullying boss is to avoid them in the first place! eBossWatch lets you do background checks on potential bosses so that you can see what their employees really think about them.
Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You (Paperback)
The lawyers and politicians may act as if they are not obligate to protect us. Can this argument hold water?
Let us pray for our legislators’ understanding.
People in authority favor other people in authority.
This is a problem for me sometimes.