May 4th, 2011

Workplace bullying: North America’s silent epidemic


by Ray Williams, Financial Post (Canada), May 4, 2011,

Workplace bullying has become a silent epidemic in North America, one that has huge hidden costs in terms of employee well being and productivity. Also known as psychological harassment or emotional abuse, bullying involves the conscious repeated effort to wound and seriously harm another person — not with violence, but with words and actions. Bullying damages the physical, emotional and mental health of the targeted person.

The workplace bully abuses power and endeavors to steal the target’s self-confidence. Bullies often involve others using tactics such as blaming the target for errors, unreasonable work demands, insults, putdowns, taking credit for the person’s work, threatening job loss and discounting accomplishments.

Bullying has become a serious problem in the workplace. In two surveys by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI) and Zogby International, where bullying was defined as “repeated mistreatment: sabotage by others that prevented work from getting done, verbal abuse, threatening conduct, intimidation and humiliation,” 35% of workers experienced bullying first hand, and 62% of the bullies were men. A Harris Interactive poll conducted in 2011 revealed that 34% of women reported being bullied in the workplace. The WBI concluded while perpetrators can be found in all ranks within organizations, the vast majority are bosses — managers, supervisors, and executives.

What’s the impact of bullying behaviour?

Bullies create a terrible toll within an organization. Their behaviour leads to increased levels of stress among employees, higher rates of absenteeism and higher than normal attrition. Because bullies often get results by getting more short-term production out of employees, they are tolerated. One study by John Medina showed that workers stressed by bullying performed 50% worse on cognitive tests. Other studies estimate the financial costs of bullying at more than $200-billion a year.

A study by Dr. Noreen Tehrani, who counselled victims of violence in Northern Ireland, and soldiers returning from overseas combat and victims of workplace, concluded that bullying exhibited similar psychological and physical symptoms — nightmares and extreme anxiety, and a variety of physical ailments.

Swedish researchers, led by Anna Nyberg at the Stress Institute in Stockholm, have published a study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on the issue of leaders’ behaviour and employee health. They studied more than 3,100 men in a 10-year period in typical work settings. They found that employees who had managers who were incompetent, inconsiderate, secretive and uncommunicative, the employees were 60% more likely to suffer a heart attack or other life-threatening cardiac condition. By contrast, employees who worked with “good” leaders were 40% less likely to suffer heart problems.  Nyberg said, “for all those who work under managers who they perceive behave strangely, or in any way they don’t understand, and they feel stressed, the study confirms this develops into a health risk.”

A study of 6,000 British office workers found employees who felt that their supervisors treated them fairly had a 30% lower risk of heart disease. A 2008 meta-analysis of the connection between health and leadership by Jana Kuoppala and associates concluded that good leadership was associated with a 27% reduction in sick leave and a 46% reduction in disability pensions. The same study concluded that employees with good leaders were 40% more likely to report the highest levels of psychological well being including lower levels of anxiety and depression.

In an article by Richard Williams, Wallace Higgins and Harvey Greenberg, published in the Boston Globe, they cited numerous research studies regarding leadership style and the health of employees. They concluded “your boss can cause you stress, induce depression and anxiety or even trigger the onset of serious illnesses. It is not just bad managers who can negatively affect employee health, but it is also the half-hearted and mediocre who put employees on the sick list.” And the cost is huge in terms of lost productivity, health care costs and employee turnover. The authors argue that a whole new field of litigation in the U.S. is developing “lawsuits against ‘bad bosses’ and the organizations that negligently allow them to supervise.”

According to the WBI, 40% of the targets of bulling never told their employers, and of those that did, 62% reported they were ignored. According to Dr. Gary Namie, Research Director at WBI, and author The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job, 81% of employers are either doing nothing to address bullying or actually resisting action when requested to do something.
As John Baldoni, author of nine books on leadership, including Lead By Example, and Lead Your Boss, says bullies may “get employees to comply, but not to commit. Compliance is okay for day-to-day operations, but when an organization is faced with a challenge or even a crisis, you need employees who are willing to go the extra mile. People who work for a bully are biding their time looking for a way out, or a time when the bully will be replaced.”

What kind of people are bullies in the workplace? “Bullies typically possess a Type A personality; they are competitive and appear driven, operating as they do from a sense of urgency,” says Lisa M.S. Barrow, author of In Darkness Light Dawns: Exposing Workplace Bullying. “This has its advantages in the workplace but the shadow side of Type A is the tendency to become frustrated and verbally abusive when things don’t go according to plan. Impatience and temper tantrums are common for Type A individuals who haven’t engaged in t the personal growth required to gain self-awareness, maintain emotional stability and consider situations from multiple points of view.…  Above all, bullies crave power and control, and this craving underlies much of what they do, say and fail to do and say. Bullies use charm and deceit to further their own ends and seem oblivious to the trail of damage they leave behind, as long as their appetites for power and control are fulfilled.”

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the targets of office bullies are not the new, inexperienced and less confident employees. According to research, they are the highly competent, accomplished, experienced and popular employees. And making them targets makes it harder for them to get notice or reprieve. Independent, experienced workers pose the greatest threat to the bullies. And when bullies find targets that refuse to be controlled and intimidated, they escalate their behaviour.

Layoffs and financial pressures on managers to perform in the recent recession may have exacerbated the bullying problem. Research conducted by Wayne Hochwarter and Samantha Englehardt at Florida State University concluded that “employer-employee relations are at one of the lowest points in history,” with a significant decline in basic civility.

Is bullying a reflection of a general decline in civility? In poll after poll, Americans have voiced concern over the erosion of civility. According to a poll by Weber Shandwick, 65% of Americans say the lack of civility is a major problem in the country and feel the negative tenor has worsened during the financial crisis and recession.

So what’s being done about workplace bullying? In the U.S., 20 states are exploring legislation that would put bullying on the legal radar screen. In Canada, the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec have passed legislation that addresses workplace bullying, although both countries are far behind some European nations and New Zealand.

One thing is certain; the problem of workplace bullying will not go away anytime soon and may never be fully remedied until enough people call for a return to a culture of civility, and demand  governments and companies take action.

<-- Read the complete WBI Blog


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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 at 10:32 am and is filed under WBI in the News. 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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  4. CNN: Adult bullying and reality TV
  5. Mother Nature Network: 1 in 3 Workers Victim of Workplace Bullying


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  • JTexas

    I think more should be done in making workplace bullying illegal throughout the U.S. I encountered a supervisor at my last position who would badger me with comments/questions like, “Do you own a gun? Are you going to jump out the window?”. I would go home crying every single day for almost a year. I always did my work, but was harassed by not only the supervisor but by other employees as well. It finally got to the point where I felt that I needed to notify HR, but instead I was seen as the “troublemaker” and eventually lost my job. It was horrible and an experience I frequently try to forget because it was so traumatic. This may be off the topic, but harassment and lack of integrity within a company happens more than one thinks. It would be great if people would speak out more about their experiences… But, unfortunately, the last thing people want right now is to lose their jobs, especially in this economy. One day I hope it will all change for the better and on the side of the employees who are the actual victims.

  • http://www.mgmt-in-a-nutshell.com Jay Jacobus

    Reportedly, there have been 15 charges brought against the roommate of a student that committed suicide in NJ.

    This suggests that the law is not the excuse for inaction against abuse. The people who enforce the law are not using the tools at hand.

    The justice department, department of labor, OHSA, legislators and the executive branch have all turned a deaf ear. There are laws that could be used, regulations that could be brought to bear and governement pressure that could be put on corporations and individuals.

    I am disabled, yet no one helped me.

    There is a law which no one would use.

    Another law will only be another false hope.

    • http://www.mgmt-in-a-nutshell.com Jay Jacobus

      Phoebe Prince was another suicide linked to bullying. Too bad that no one came to her aid before she died.

      After she died, the law was used to bring her tormentors to justice. But then it was too late to show compassion for Phoebe.

      The culture was too lax or too insenstive to stop the bullying. After the fact, severe justice was not applied. The bullies were offerred plea bargains without jail time.

      Perhaps the culture was partly responsible. But how does a DA put the culture on trial?

      Do workplace bullies fear consequences? There don’t seem to be consequences for workplace buillies. As long as there is immunity from prosecution, bullying will continue.

      • J.

        As was the bizarre suicide of Antonio Calvo (Princeton University) last month.

    • kay

      I understand how you feel Jay. I contacted the EEOC in my case and the investigator came in and investigated. My HR manager and the company lawyer lied through their teeth. HR even lied and stated that I’d never come forward and told them things that I’d clearly told the HR manager in a written e-mail. They had to know that I would have already given that to the investigator. I gave the investigator every statement, request for help that I had ever given to my company. The EEOC found cause in my favor on one of the charges and tried to conciliate and my company would not comply at all. They were seemingly very upset with me for having spoken out and brought in help. I was in pieces and barely able to speak. As they lied, I countered with exact verbatim statments that were said by a co-worker in my defense during the harassment (I’d kept a diary and stacks of documentation). After the EEOC fact finding and the finding in my favor, my company sent the co-worker that had intervened in my defense during the harassment, for a so called random drug test. It was the same thing they’d done to me immediately after my submitting the statement of harassment. They’d claimed to the EEOC that it is random and computer generated to pick names in a company that has many departments and thousands of employees. She and others first stated “I’m glad she did not let him get away with it”, openly after the EEOC came in, but after they rushed her off for the drug test, she stood in the office and was afraid and said “I’d better not say anything else, there gonna have dogs at my desk” I’ll never forget those words. I ended up having heart rate calc’d by my doc at almost 200 beats per min resting. I had to wear life watch heart monitor. It kept going off at work and then they posted a message in the emailed co newsletter immediately after the EEOC came and it read “statements made to catch everyone may catch no one” it was so sick and I could not believe it. Everyone in that office knows that I am a quiet, kind person and one of the best in office. I did not even tell a sole that I was contacting EEOC because I feared for them and did not want sympathy nor attention. I am so regretful at having mentioned what the coworker said in my defense during the harassment, because she was retaliated against and was then worried for her job. I had to get out of there and took sick leave. My right to sue ran out after 90days. I was in bed with kids with relatives most days and I could not move. I called lawyers and went to see one that knew of my company and had fought them for harassment before. He wanted $19,000 but said he was eager to take my case. I work for a large utility in my state. I did not have the $19,000 nor the $5000 he wanted to begin. I’d have had to take my son out of private school and much more to raise those funds. I could not even fight. I think that EEOC should be required to take the burden and fight for a person where harassment is found likely to be occuring. It was a small victory that the investigator saw through them but where did it get me. I have all of the documents and threats posted in company newsletter and all. I feel like it should have been easy for someone to take this on for me. I am not looking to get rich, I just want to get away from them without the worry of foreclosure and take time to get well in order to hopefully find another safe location to re-enter later. That did not happen now it is time for me to go back there. I know their plans for me. What did I do that would make them not want to protect me? I am having a hard time with that. This happened to me, I did not do this. I did not even want to speak up. EEOC is great, but not if they find in your favor and leave you with a right to sue letter when your company refuses to institute policies nor pay you restitution. In my condition I did not stand a chance on my own.

  • SJaques

    Thank you for your efforts!
    I have witnessed harassment of lower-rank employees . Even the Administrators in the department fear the bully. It is sad that others have to suffer to maintain the status quo of power.

  • hopeless

    I am being bullied by my manager who is a HR officer. It has changed me. I am on the brink of suicide. I have children and I am afaid for all of us. It is so wrong. I am depressed and angry. How many laws do we have in this country? Our country doesn’t care. What the heck is wrong with our one nation under god? Maybe all people who can make it happen have never been a victim of a bully. They have better laws to pass I guess.

    • Eva

      Please hang in there, Hopeless. I am also being victimized. I have thought about suicide many times.

      If we hang tough, we’ll get through this.

    • Dr. Gary Namie

      Make through the weekend and please call Monday for coaching 360.656.6630. You can get through this.

    • kay

      God Bless you, I know exactly where you are in your feelings right now. I am experiencing trauma also. I feel like I don’t want to EVER leave my house. I don’t want to re-enter my work environment, but the bills keep coming and my kids are wonderful and deserve for me to keep things going for them. I cant believe what happened to me and it is so despicable that I dont even want to mention it. When I tell folks, they don’t believe it, they believe me, but seem to have a hard time grasping that this occurred within my work environment. Management does nothing. I have seen them go as far as to have the IT department rush right in and remove all of the computer towers in office, not the old battered monitors, but the towers only, in an effort to rid any evidence or pictures that a male supervisor may have surely had on his computer, or messages he may have written. This was done immediately after my statement for help and informing them of the incidents. Companies do not care what happens to you in their rampantly toxic environments and they will try and pacify you and cover evidence instead of helping you get justice. I wish someone could wake me up and this be a nightmare. I’ve been through it all. The women call me princess tiara and say that they’ll be sure to have me fired, while being simultaneously invaded by a male supervisor. This all happening to a top performer in office with a spotless record and only constant accolades. I loved my job and have always been a loyal employee at ANYTHING I’d ever done. I’d never cause a problem, I don’t even speak much at work, you never know I’m there. I had many co-workers who respected and complimented me, but I knew the environment was toxic. I’d watched it with others. I’d rather wake up in poverty and work my way out of it than have this really be my life. Lets just do what we can and pray for laws.

  • J.

    I am not sure I agree with the type A personality idea. At least, my primary bully does not appear to have a type A personality. She is an incredible control freak, but she does not appear driven at all. She is fairly lazy, appears to have a morbid fear of change and is desperate to maintain low mediocrity in the academic unit she claims to manage. If she is driven to do anything it is to maintain the status quo and to get rid of anyone or anything that might make her look unqualified. She seems to feel a sense of urgency only when being vindictive. She does have tantrums, as does her boss, and I have never met anyone with a more grandiose opinion of her/himself. Most of the bullies I have encountered seem to be more jealous, shallow and petty than anything else.

    • LB

      J, you nailed it.

      I would also add cowardly as well.

      Bullies usually hide behind documents.

    • kay

      So true, and in my opinion, they are very transparent. I can see every envied feeling, intimidation and bad intention behind many of the women who bully those other than myself. I can see the power need in the men who make disrespectful and rampently sexual comments in the workplace. I can clearly see it in them, just as if I were looking right through a window. Upon first sight, when ya spot it, be careful because what comes next you might never imagine. The men WILL act on every prior statement made that revealed their character. They will act seemingl without worry of being caught. The women who bully others will make good on every nasty look, and statement of promise to have you fired. You can get it from both angles and if/when that happens, it is so much more traumatic of an experience.

  • KKAZE

    I also was the victim of a workplace bully. She is the most horrid person I have met in my entire life. She would rally other office members to join forces against her target and in most cases the target would quit. When I became her target I refused to let her get the best of me. I continued to work with integrity and maintained my professionalism. In the end, I was fired without cause. Now that some time has passed and I have cooled off, I see that I am better off. I also am ready to help in any way possible to make work place bullying illegal. How can we protect our children from school yard bullies, when we can not protect ourselves from bullying in the workplace??

    • kay

      God Bless you KKAZE. I know just what you mean, I am going through the storm now, and I could tell you of incidents that occurred in my toxic work environment that would make you think that it was surely fiction, but the nightmare is that it is true. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it. I wish so much that I’d never had any of this brought upon me. I’d have worked a lower paying position for that past almost 7yrs if it meant that I’d never have run into this. I can’t sleep and I can’t be awake.

      The constant weird nightmares waking me up at 4am after I’d just fallen asleep maybe 3am. When I turn over to wake in the morning, instantly I’m slammed with thoughts of what has happened and that this is truely my life now. I have been off work since Dec on sick leave and I am not better at all. I can’t see a positive outcome in this situation. I am so sick of thinking about this and never want to see my workplace again, but I am a wreck of constant flashbacks and memories. I cant believe that this is not going to stop. When will I get better? If anyone would have told me that this would be THE PRICE FOR PAYMENT, I’d have passed on this job. Now I have mortgage, diabetic child and two other thriving honor student children and I have been abused in just about every way possible at my JOB. You cant turn back time. It feels like I was just forceably saddled with a ball and chain of never ending trauma. I have been diagnosed with PTSD…… my new uninvited constant companion. I do wish there was a medical procedure that could erase ones mind of traumatic events, until that is developed, I am stuck in mental/emotional hell, existing only for my children.

    • Lola

      I totally understand where you are coming from. I was bullied for 4 years before I was let go for…you’ll like this one…supposedly calling people in my department “dumb sons of b’s” …I would never make a statement like that. One person told another person and so on and so on that I made it as I walked out of the office with my husband. The mgr had been in a meeting so didn’t hear anything but took the word of everyone else. No one but the 4 in my department heard it yet people were walking by our cubicles at the time I left and they didn’t hear it. The company handbook states ALL parties should be interviewed but not once was anyone other than the 4 spoke to. The manager decided to let me go after speaking with hr and that same afternoon told the rest of my department that I was being let go when he got back on the following monday (this happened on a thursday). So everyone in the company (about 125+ employees) all knew I was being fired because of the 4 people gossiping. I went to work friday and monday morning – embarrassing having that man follow me around. What makes this worse is that I was written up a couple of months prior for making the statement “I’m not going to act like a 5 yr old” – wasn’t calling anyone a 5 yr old but I got written up for it. Now, I must add I spent 22 yrs in a fortune 100 company and not once did I ever get written up for anything. Only this company. To add insult to injury when they disbanded the department two months later they kept guy who I reported multiple times of gossiping about me and didn’t stop but also failed at least one drug test and was arrested for outstanding warrants three times in two years. Must be good being a friend of the boss for 30 years. There is so much more to what happened to me and the only reason I didn’t have a complete breakdown (cried for 4 yrs)was my husband. He saw it all and even experienced some of it. The government needs to enact laws to protect everyone from bullies. I’ve been going back and forth with my options but I can tell you this… I’ve decided to go back to college and finish my bachelors and have decided to change majors while I’m at it – I’ve decided I want to go to law school. Eventually, I want to help people who go through what I went through.
      ps – I doubt the owner of the company knows anything like this occurs in his company.

      • kay

        Hi Lola, I just read this over. I am so sorry for you, just in hearing what you described, it takes me back to my work environment. I know EXACTLY what you are saying and I can even see it playing out.

        What surprised me about your statement was that they actually wrote you up on insults and comments. NOTHING like that was done at my place of employment. I WAS CALLED DICKHEAD by one of the bullies my age (early 30′s). I have NEVER used the term. I am no shrinking violet, but NEVER used it in life. I dont speak that way. It will take a lot for me to bring out my inner sailor. I never imagined AT WORK???? That just does not fit my reasoning.

        Sounds like you were being mobbed clearly. That was always my worry. I am a people pleaser, but I also am a decent judge of character and when I meet trouble folk, I STAY AWAY. The women would call me a “silent observer” one day and the next stand a few feet away and say they were gonna put a banana in my tailpipe. One of the bullies my age would drive past my home and slow in front of my house. I live in a sub-division of homes with families and mature adults as neighbors.

        This is a young female who was on the court dockets for filing a restraining order against some females in the community due to them vandalising her car terribly. These are the most troubled folk. The girl would get into arguments on her cell phone in her cubical all day long and everyone in office knew it. She would cry and move from one boyfriend to the next and have to leave for court and more. Seemingly liking it.
        The other female was reportedly evicted from her apt with her husband and they went to live with the in office union woman’s sister who is also an in office employee. This was how the bullying clique circled the wagons and the harassment was unbelievable.

        My female supervisor would witness the harassment and tell me “you handle it well” and “they have no class, their just very jealous” or sup would say “they did same thing to me when I was a rep” co-workers would say “you’d think that how a person lives their life outside would be an indication (to mgmt) of how they may behave inside of work” but these women all but closed their mouths and said nothing as I was harassed.
        One night my supervisor witnessed another incident where the troubled girl on the court docket was menacing me due to color of my shirt being same as hers. She was leaving the office and had to return upon seeing me and go over and nearly put her hand to her mouth in a childish whisper motion to tell her fellow accomplice that I “was her twin”. The other girl stepped forward to peek around the divider to see me and then stepped back and they laughed and made loud statements, then left again.

        My sup saw this spectacle and told me “I dont know why they keep bothering you, you are as nice as…” and on. This is after YEARS OF MORE SEVERE TYPE BULLING AND HARASSMENT THAT I HAD COMPLETELY IGNORED UNTIL THEY BEGAN TO SAY THAT THEY WANTED TO PUNCH ME AND THE UNION WOMEN SAID “JUST DO IT, I’LL WALK AWAY” MANY MANY MORE INCIDENTS. I KEPT A DIARY VERBATIM AND IT IS EXTREME. I felt silly even having to recount this stupid childish type mess, but it went on DAILY and increased. That same union woman would say that the male sup “should have been in trouble for sexual harassment a long time ago” They knew he was dangerous but did NOTHING. If he was willing to allow them to be off DAILY for “union business” then they would let him do and say WHATEVER.

        It is pretty helpless when your supervisor is witnessing this, but all she can say is hang in there???It was very upsetting. Here I am a grown woman with children and I’m being bullied and harassed openly as if I were coming to junior or high school each day.

        I STILL CANT BELIEVE IT. My heart would pound out of my body. By the time I’d leave, my good friends would ask if I was ok because I’d look so battered. My eyes and head would hurt due to blood pressure. Lets pray for laws :(

  • Mara Caballes Sendig

    I am also currently being bullied, by my managers and very depressing to think about it,I wanted to be able to come to work and be happy with my job, I actually have two jobs, and they are right next to each other, the building is next to each one, so the commute is not a problem, just walking accross the plaza would take me to my other job site, that is how convenient my jobs are. I am not making that much money considering all the expenses, the bus fares, the train fares and not to mention the meals. I love working as a receptionist because, I love talking to people when they stop by at the desk to retrieve their packages and other memos. But me being Asian, a minority is so hard, because I am like a vey good target of different nationality, they perceive of me like, I do not know anything and treat me like a 2nd class citizen. The places where I work at is next to each other and the managers they kind of know each others and always find fault on me any chance they get. I am very tired of them discrinating me and treating me unfairly. I wish that they will pass some kind of laws prohibiting superiors on bullying their employees.

  • Elizabeth

    I am also a target of extreme bullying at work. It has steadily increased the last four years, while my health and happiness have greatly declined. I wonder why I am still working there..I feel like my sense of self is gone. As I read this blog, tears are pouring down my face, uncontrollably, identifying with every aspect. Today when the abuse began unexpectedly- after I was humiliated- I got up and walked out.. tried to calm down and “get over it” but I could not. I got in my car and left for the day. I am dreading going back in the morning.. I am full of anxiety and its 1:15AM. My particular experience, I am the TARGET by all definitions. My boss is the BULLY. The company is a “mom and pop” family business (not mine) with less than 10 people in the office. There isnt HR, or any dept. My co-workers are normalized to the abuse they witness. I will not tolerate it any longer. I dont believe Im suicidal, but that IDEA is inside my head- which tells me how I feel about myself. But what it says to the big picture, THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM! THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY, and this is harming human lives- putting them in danger. My best solution, I have to walk out.

    • LB

      Trust your instincts, because they are usually correct.

      Being bullied with nowhere to turn is a very sobering experience.

      I find it interesting from others and my own personal experience, that targets of bullying think about, or have, suicidal thoughts, not necessarily about killing oneself, but simply not existing anymore so the emotional pain and suffering will end, and no one but the target knows how unbearable that is.

      Until one has experienced being bullied, one cannot fully understand or appreciate how spiritually and psychologically devastating the effects of bullying are.

      No one deserves to be abused, especially at their job.

      Sending positive energies your way.

      • kay

        I too can identify with this. I never imagined I’d be able to say that I can identify with those thoughts, but the thoughts visit me each time I revisit what has happened in my work environment.

        First you have your ethical and moral compass. This is the first line of protection from harassment occurring in the workplace, but when the harasser has no moral nor ethical compass to guide them??? We move on to society (co-workers) not allowing it to happen and standing up along side of the target and forcing employers to act, but when co-workers are afraid and accept it and say nothing, that fails.

        Next Company policy is the fail safe, but when the policy is not enforced and is really good for nothing and HR is there to get rid of you the target if you illuminate the problem-fail

        Next there is EEOC, but when they dont litigate on severe current illegal harassment when cause found, and instead leave you with cause finding and a letter to persue justice-fail. You’re a wreck and in no shape to be left alone to help yourself.

        Next there is common law tort, but when there is no law preventing emotional harassment based on bullying and making life hell for a person trying to earn a living, lawyers have no ammo to work with therefore there is no case and most often we (targets) have no money to even attempt to work with the inadequate laws such as infliction of emotional distress which is a long shot if the courts wont even protect us from emotional and health harming dignity stealing abuse.– another fail!!

        I wish common sense would prevail. If you want a robust economy, we must have happy healthy workforce. It trickels down to the kids and their success and harms the entire family not just the worker.

        Why wont they hurry and help :(

  • Moon

    Good article. Heartbreaking accounts. I was also bullied for years. I had an excellent reputation, steadily rose in the system, won awards in my field and was never written up. Then I ran into bad managers who acted like little gods.

    My career was destroyed by rumor. I took it to the top and the organization supported the bully. They didn’t speak to a single witness I provided (more than a dozen) and closed my case.

    I went from supervising a unit to stuffing envelopes. I was stuck in another unit and shunned. A secretary ordered me around. The one time I told her I was busy with other work, no one spoke to me for months. I fought for years but they broke me.

    At 57, I was told my degrees, experience, and seniority did not matter. I quit to save my sanity and ruined my financial future. Workplace bullying is not only evil, it’s financial rape.

    • kay

      I HATE to hear this…. God Bless you. I’m sorry. I hope that for everyone involved who enjoyed seeing your ruine, life at some point and hopefully when they least expect it and when they are at the top and things are great, turns a mirror and has those person’s facing a reflection of a situation happening to them just the same, but worse than what happened to you. And then they remember and know exactly what they did to you and why the same is happening to them in spades.

  • Eva

    Sending positive energy to all of you: hopeless, craze, lola, kay, Mara and anyone else I’m forgetting. Because I know what it’s like.

    Great to have this this forum, if nothing else.

  • Tyrone

    REALITY SHOWS TV JUDGE SHOWS AND BULLYING IN AMERICA

    America is fast to point out other country short coming. Every decade Americans find another race or religion to hate! American movie and TV shows have a big influence on American and the world especially young Americans. Reality shows have American acting in immoral and disrespect and pure classless behaviors! House Wives of “whatever” feature mostly white women arguing and physically fighting! Fake and phony would be a understatement! The women look like clown with all the make up and plastic surgery!

    For the cast members of “Jersey Shore,” the MTV reality show depicts everything they say a summer in the Garden State is about: horrible hair style, hair gel, hook ups and the coveted, horrible tan. Partying drinking and fighting and cursing!!!!But for Italian-American groups and New Jersey tourism officials, the show is awash with inaccuracies, many of which they fear give the Italian community and the vacation destination a bad rap.

    In particular, the willingness of the eight 20-somethings sharing a Jersey Shore summer house to classify themselves as “guidos” has drawn the ire of groups that consider the term offensive. The program certainly depicts the Jersey Shore as a culturally vapid place and doesn’t make it appealing to anyone outside the demographic [MTV] is showing,” said Daniel Cappello, the executive director of the Jersey Shore Convention & Visitors Bureau.

    Basketball Wives came on after these House Wives of “Whatever” and begin to act just as stupid and ignorant and violent. This program feature minority. One of the character name “Tami” is the worse of the worse and the most ignorant on the show! All of the women are no role model for no one! Many are mother …If you can believe! Shaq’s ex-wife Shaunie O’ Neal, the executive producer of Vh1′s “Basketball Wives” and “Football Wives. Shaunie is behind all the drama and totally guilty of being just as ghetto and ignorant!

    Who judges the judges? Well, I do. You do! Of course, I’m talking about the television show judges. There’s a plethora of judge shows on American television these days, but the genre started out with Judge Joseph Wapner and the original The People’s Court which had its debut in 1981. I feel the show was the inspiration for the Court TV network today.
    Judge Waper has strongly criticize Judge Judy calling her unprofessional and a disgrace to the profession. I would like to say that she is not alone. Judge Mathis is also unprofessional and in my opinion angry and disrespectful….A thug in authority! Judge Joe Brown I believe suffer from Alzheimer. Judge Marilyn Milian is sick in the head and has a angry problem she she never ever be a judges! Judge Jeanine Pirro thinks she is a stand up comedian she is a piss poor judge!!! She is nasty and disrespectful to litigants….telling litigant to “sit! Shut up” get out” speaking to litigant like dogs!
    Right now, I have to list Judge Judy Sheindlin as the epitome of the successful television court judge. She’s quick-witted, clever, brash, and unprofessional and rude, usually acid-tongued. She’s become a successful author, as well as a household name even for those who really don’t watch daytime courtroom fiasco. Um…cases, not fiasco, of course! Hands down, she’s had the most effect on the genre since its inception with Wapner. She’s the Simon Cowell of the television courtroom genre.
    With the behavior of these people is it any wonder bullying is such a problem in America! Young people look at these TV judges with no self control unprofessional disrespectfully and pure bully. Young people do as they see!

  • Tyrone

    THE MURDER OF TROY DAVIS IS JUST ANOTHER

    Capital punishment, also dubbed the “death penalty,” is the pre-meditated and planned taking of a human life by a government in response to a crime committed by that legally convicted person. Passions in the US are sharply divided, and equally strong among both supporters and protesters of the death penalty. Arguing against capital punishment, Amnesty International believes that “The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice. It violates the right to life…It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There can never be any justification for torture or for cruel treatment.” For minority in America it become a white racist tool! Another way of disrespecting black life!
    Defiant until the end, Troy Davis was executed Wednesday night for the murder of an white off-duty police officer. He convinced hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but not a single court, that he was innocent. Ones again America has shown that Sharia Law and American Law are the same………..WRONG!!!! Troy Davis big problem was to be born black in America. Then to not have lived a crime free life!
    In America black life is seen as worthless and less important. So when negotiating for justice for Troy Davis the fact that he is black. He was seen as more likely then not! Even if the courts believe he was innocent. They feel TOO-BAD-SO-SAD- somebody murder the off duty white police officer. Therefore somebody must pay! It didn’t matter that 7 out of the 9 recanted their story and stated THEY LIED! They claim police officers force their confession.

    Remember the Central Park rape where five blacks where accuse and convicted of raping a white female jogger? After many years in prison the real rapist was caught! The five young blacks that were wrongly convicted also stated that police officer beat and torture their confession. As a former Correction Officer at a state facility. I watch over 35 inmates get release THAT WERE WRONGLY CONVICTED!

    There were many thing that could had been done for Troy Davis….Like given the 7 that said they lied..a lie detector test. Interview the cops that got the confession and request the tape or video of the confession. We know America’s justice system is bias racist and unfair….We know that police officers in America LIE! We know that Muslim Sharia Law and American Law is one in the same.

    American especially black Americans need to fight to change the laws in America. Like if witness state they lied and are given a lie detector test and past. That stops the execution! Or change the death penalty to a point system. If a person is convicted of murder he or she receive 500 points place in prison for 35 years. In that time if the inmate receive 500 more points. They are put to death!

    Their behavior dictates their death in prison. That would take away the power of a judge jury or Governor. It would also allow the inmate to prove his or her innocent. It would also make it saver for correctional personnel! Death roll inmates would be on the best behavior!

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