Posts Tagged ‘Healthy Workplace Bill’
Workplace Bullying Bills Alive in the States
Friday, February 26th, 2010
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.
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Tags: anti-bullying law, CT, David Yamada, Healthy Workplace Bill, HWB, IL, KS, MA, NJ, NY, OK, UT, VT, WBI
Posted in WBI Legislative Campaign | 7 Comments »
Lost Your Job? Breathe, Change the World
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Legitimately hard-hit employers are cutting workers in droves because that’s the only way they know how to cut costs. On the other hand, reports suggest that lots of employers are using the crisis as an excuse to put people on the streets without experiencing pressure.
Mass worker displacement is a boom for career counselors and job trainers. In a May 3 LA Times op-ed, worker advocate-activist-author Barbara Ehrenreich blasted the prevalent notion that the imperative full-time task for unemployed folks is finding a job without other life distractions. She challenges the American workaholic ethic that taking time off to breathe and detox after the last corporate round of bullying or jobs devoid of meaning and purpose is taboo.
Tags: Ehrenreich, Healthy Workplace Bill, State Coordinators, WBI-LC
Posted in Social Justice, WBI Legislative Campaign | 1 Comment »
Video: WBI-LC Bill Debated on NJ PBS-TV
Monday, April 13th, 2009
April, 2009: New Jersey Public TV show “Due Process” – a show about legal topics – featured a debate about the merits of the WBI Healthy Workplace Bill, specifically NJ Assembly Bill 1551 introduced in 2008. A plaintiffs’ attorney supports the anti-bullying legislation while a corporate defense attorney downplays the reality of the risk to workers. A 1551 sponsors include Linda Greenstein and 10 co-sponsors. (http://workplacebullyinglaw.org/states/legis-nj.html)
The Organization of Chinese Americans and NJ Bar Foundation jointly sponsored a public education event about Workplace Bullying on Nov. 22, 2008 in New Brunswick. Presenters included ASW Greenstein, Suffolk Univ. Law professor David Yamada, attorney Susie Cho (OCA representative), the Drs. Namie from WBI, Leisa-Anne Smith the state’s school bullying expert, and workers comp attorney John Kovac.
To purchase the tape from the station, go to this page and enter Due Process Show #1406
Tags: A 1551, Greenstein, Healthy Workplace Bill, TV, WBI-LC
Posted in Bullying Tutorials, Bullying in the News, Employer Action/Inaction, Media, Social Justice, WBI Legislative Campaign | Post a Comment »
Abusive Bosses in Medical Fields Targeted
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
By James Thalmanr Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT) February 4, 2009
Hospitals would become bully-free zones and bad-boss behavior prohibited in state statute under a bill that a legislative review committee on Tuesday earmarked for interim study.
Despite opposition to the bill by the head of the state Division of Risk Management, former district Judge Roger Livingston, counter testimony from disgruntled health-care workers who support HB224 was too compelling for lawmakers to ignore.
They heard and were given written accounts of ostensibly competent, caring medical providers being driven from their jobs and even out of the state by supervisors who induce stress in an already high-stress occupation. The hyper-patrolling and controlling oversight — which included employees having to ask to go the bathroom are far from uncommon and are adding injury to the insult in the form of serious mistakes and harm to patients, committee members were told.
Tags: bully MD, HB224, healthcare bullying, Healthy Workplace Bill, Sandstrom, Utah
Posted in Bullying in the News, Health Care, WBI Legislative Campaign | Post a Comment »
Lawmakers May Study Abusive Workplace Issues
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
By Heather May Salt Lake Tribune February 3, 2009
This summer, lawmakers may study whether they can and should outlaw “an abusive work environment” in government-owned health care settings, such as the University of Utah.
Members of the House Health and Human Services weren’t ready to legislate against bad behavior, and instead recommended HB224 be studied.
Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, said the bill is aimed mainly at residency programs where there have been instances of supervisors targeting trainees with verbal abuse or behavior aimed at undermining their work, forcing them to quit.
Bill supporters noted current law doesn’t protect employees from such abuse unless the harassment is based on sex or race. They said intimidating behavior can psychologically harm employees and can lead to medical errors when providers are scared to speak up. A national accrediting agency now requires hospitals to have codes of conduct on such behavior.
But opponents, including the state’s risk manager, said it would be a vast departure from current law. And they said it would invite lawsuits, since it would be creating a new protected class of employees in what is now a right-to-work state.
Tags: HB224, healthcare bullying, Healthy Workplace Bill, Utah
Posted in Bullying in the News, WBI Legislative Campaign | 5 Comments »
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WBI is the only United States organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals, research, public education, consulting for employers, and legislative advocacy.