May 30th, 2010
NY Senate Healthy Workplace Bill press summary
Updated June 2
The NY Senate passed S 1823B on May 12. Since then, there has been a flurry of opposition in the media, all by corporate apologists and chicken-little lawyers. Just to set the record straight. WBI addresses the distortions with links to the original articles.
Here are the articles in reverse chronological order.
June 1: Bipartisan consensus at last: N.Y. Senate passes bill for bully-free workplaces
May 29: A legal blogger who calls bullied workers delicate teacups
May 28: Another lawyer – mediator who thinks no law is needed because employers do the right thing.
May 26: A columnist writing for small businesses about the impact of the bill
May 14: The first post-vote salvo from the Wall St. Journal, citing Mayor Bloomberg’s opposition
If you count yourself a supporter of our legislation, please write a supportive comment on the newspapers’ websites. There are a lot of crazies writing opposing notes, spreading lies. Thank you. Gary Namie
Tags: Bloomberg, Healthy Work, Morahan, Needleman, NY Healthy Workplace Advocates, NY Senate, S1823B, Scott Greenfield, Victoria Pynchon
This entry was posted on Sunday, May 30th, 2010 at 8:05 am 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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Really people? I daresay if you had a loved one who encountered life-altering harassment and bullying in the workplace that you would be opposing this bill! Having gone through this myself, I can tell you MOST of us are not just whining about bosses that are “mean”. These are people in the workplace who sabotage our work, isolate us from others, spread rumors and false accusations about us; they give us tasks without resources to be successful and then get angry. They threaten your very existence until you wonder about your own self. My life was ruined by an abusive boss who lied, stole, and manipulated. The people I worked with for 20 years wouldn’t even talk to me for fear that “they would be next”. Come on. Oppose this bill, make sure there is no kind of recourse for us and then PRAY TO GOD that it never happens to you!
[...] shamelessly linking to the Workplace Bullying Institute’s excellent post collecting these pieces, with a request that if you support the Healthy Workplace Bill, please consider posting your online [...]
This is a necessary bill. I was saddened to think when driving in the opposite of the busy expressway, that one out of six of my fellow human beings were heading to a job run by a bully. These bullies have no heart and are protected by unfair laws. Work and life is hard enough that humans should be able to work in harmony together. Its just a shame that God lets any human with bullying tendencies work with good natured humans. I believe that these heartless humans bully at work because they are being bullied at home by their heartless spouses and then take it out on the good workers. My story is very sad and is going to be ironed out in courts where I feel justice will prevail. The media and government is too corupt and don’t care for the tax-payers who must work to pay their bills. God bless the bullied and I certainly hope he tears the eyes out of the bully. I hate a bully. “through political strategy they keep us hungry” Bob Marley
Recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about bullying in the academy…
http://chronicle.com/article/Workplace-Mediators-Seek-a/65815/
Workplace bullying has reached epidemic proportions in society, as indicated by the appearance of websites like this one:
http://www.ebosswatch.com/index.php
“…few people truly understand the psychological and physical damage that results from these relationships…It is very difficult for the targets of bullies to put into words their experiences, and when they do they are often seen as disgruntled employees or as being over-sensitive.”
http://asunews.asu.edu/stories/200612/20061215_workplacebullies.htm
The research cited below suggests abuse of authority originates from, or is at least accompanied by, an improper sense of personal entitlement, which is characterized by a lack of accountability. So, it follows that reinforcing institutional norms of accountability and proper understanding of authority as delegated by higher authority on condition of accountability, will serve to minimize influences that otherwise inspire a sense of improper entitlement. Consider the old saying “one cannot act with authority unless one is under authority”.
The research also suggests the meek do not feel entitled, and so don’t take what they need. In my view, such meekness is viewed by offenders as opportunity to be exploited, and this serves to encourage bullying and other abuses of authority. So, it follows that reinforcing and encouraging rights to accountability, as required by higher authority, will serve to promote a proper sense of entitlement that inspires the meek to demand accountability when bullying or other abuse occur.
Therefore, any approach to preventing workplace bullying must discourage potential offenders from adopting an improper sense of entitlement that leads to disregard for accountability, and at the same time, encourage potential targets to adopt a proper sense of entitlement that leads to effective demands for their rights to accountability.
See below for excerpts from a review of
“Power Increases Hypocrisy: Moralizing in Reasoning, Immunity and Behavior”
by Galinsky, Lammers and Stapel, in press, Psychological Science.
See further below for an excerpt from the article itself.
Excerpts from the review
“…these results do indeed suggest that power tends to corrupt and to promote a hypocritical tendency to hold other people to a higher standard than oneself.”
“…people with power…break rules not only because they can get away with it, but also because they feel…that they are entitled to take what they want. This sense of entitlement is crucial to understanding why people misbehave in high office. In its absence, abuses will be less likely.”
FULL TEXT AVAILABLE at
http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=15328544
Excerpts from the article
“The powerful impose more normative restraints on others, but believe they themselves can act with less restraint. The less powerful, in contrast, are less inclined to impose norms on others, but more rigidly follow these themselves. This means that people with power not only take what they want because they can do so unpunished, but also because they intuitively feel they are entitled to do so. Conversely, people who lack power not only fail to get what they need because they are disallowed to take it, but also because they intuitively feel they are not entitled to it.”
FULL TEXT AVAILABLE at
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/galinsky/Power%20Hypocrisy%20Psych%20Science%20in%20press.pdf
Excerpts from “Workplace Bullying: What we know, who is to blame, and what can we do?”, by Rayner, Hoel and Cooper.
“Workplace bullying constitutes unwanted, offensive, humiliating, undermining behavior towards an individual or groups of employees. Such persistently malicious attacks on personal or professional performance are typically unpredictable, irrational and often unfair. This abuse of power or position can cause such chronic stress and anxiety that people gradually lose belief in themselves, suffering physical ill health and mental distress as a result.”
“Workplace bullying affects working conditions, health and safety, domestic life and the right of all to equal opportunity and treatment. Workplace bullying is a separate issue from sexual or racial harassment. It is a gradually wearing-down process which makes individuals feel demeaned and inadequate, that they can never get anything right and that they are hopeless not only within their work environment but also in their domestic life. In many instances, bullying can be very difficult to detect. It often takes place where there are no witnesses. It can be subtle and devious and often it is difficult for those on the receiving end to confront their perpetrator.”
“Looking at the consequences of bullying it became obvious that this problem could be considered an insidious and worrying personal safety issue. Research began to reveal that the stress created could lead to incidents, accidents and acts of carelessness or even self-damage.”
“Whatever its nature, aggression is damaging to individuals and to the general fabric of society.”
“Increased pressure on staff and managers to meet targets, especially unofficial targets, creates an environment which intimidation and victimization are almost unavoidable. While a tough, competitive environment does not create bullies it can certainly aggravate their behavior. It can also create job insecurity, [chaotic] organizational change and uncertainty, poor working relationships generally and excessive workloads. Unfortunately, harassment and bullying can be seen as strong management, the effective way of getting the job done. Such action by senior management can be seen as a green light to others to behave in similar fashion. This can seriously backfire on employers. Staff working in an atmosphere of fear and resentment do not perform well, with the resultant reduction in productivity. Morale levels fall while absenteeism through sickness increases and staff resign.”
“People who are continually bullied or harassed lose their self-confidence. Their self-esteem is lowered and their health damaged. Workplace bullying can lead to sleeplessness, migraine, back pain, panic attacks and stress-related illnesses such as depression and anxiety.”
As a victim of schoolyard bullying in my youth, I learned the only way to deal with bullies was to challenge them. Only after demonstrating a willingness to defend myself could a meaningful relationship begin. Sadly, the references above suggest that little has changed in going from the schoolyard to the workplace, except the stakes are higher and there is broad collateral damage.
In order to realize the full potential of our society, especially the call to innovation and social justice, we must proactively maintain and enhance a workplace culture that precludes workplace bullying in no uncertain terms.
I’ve been a victim of abuse that went on for 5 years. Ultimately affecting my health (3 surgeries). I fought all bogus / trumped up allegations via the company HR and Ethics escalation processes. Finally getting my performance reviews re-written by HR and Ethics to remove all the unsubstantiated comments. I took an early retirement off to have time to study the impact of bully methods and compare them to productivity. What I realized is that “A” Teams that follow the company processes tend to extract innovation and productivity from the work force and are much more efficient. Whereas, Bully / Abuse base systems tend to be inefficient, hide problems, and put energy into politics. In many cases there is a 4X productivity difference between the two types of approaches. There appears to be a correlation between enhanced productivity and ethical processes and low productivity and unethical / bully processes. Since Corporate America is really driven by profits, it would seem to me that they would be interested in this information. If we fix this productivity issue we can be better equipped for world wide competition and slow down / stop the outsourcing of American Jobs. My new book, “Building and Maintaining an “A” Team is in draft copy at this point in time, but it will need lots of help to complete it. Are there any Lawyers that have time to work on this topic in the interest of helping to stop work place bullying and improve American Corporate Productivity?
[...] abusive conduct by bosses and co-workers. Sounds like support should be a no-brainer. Who in the world would OPPOSE legislation aimed at humanizing the workplace? Who could assume the morally dubious position of [...]