Essential Business Behaviors - Healing the Toxic Organization , Workplace Bullying

The Broken Sink Syndrome

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 22:54:59 +0000

For 15 years, I lived with a broken sink.

The sink was still whole when I was bullied and blocked from working by a university professor.

I could not get a job, no matter how hard I tried.

The sink first cracked right after my husband, and I parted ways with his family and stopped communicating because my in-laws had supported my brother-in-law and sinister-in-law (no misspelling here) in their efforts to push us into bankruptcy. They did this because they were threatened by my efforts to earn a graduate degree – a choice I made out of necessity. I wasn't allowed to speak at the dinner table because every time I opened my mouth, the screaming sinister-in-law would "go off."

The sink cracked more after I worked for two female consultants who both bullied me by making up stupid scenarios about why I did not deserve payment for my work.

To deal with the broken sink, I found a plastic dishpan used by waiters to bus dishes. My husband covered the enlarging crack with black duct tape. In other words, I covered up the fissure in my life just as bullying had caused me to act. I couldn't see the crack, but like my anger over being bullied, I knew it was there every time I removed the dish pan to clean it. The black tape showed every food particle and muck left behind from washing dishes. It became an unconscious symbol of the damage that bullying had caused in my life.

Like the family, the sink should not have cracked. We had purchased it new and inserted it ourselves. However, the sink – designed to help us keep our dishes clean – did not measure up to the job – just as the family sheltered the perpetrator of my ruined educational goals and ignored both my husband's and my pleas for help. Over time, the sink became a symbol of everything that was wrong with my life – the abuse and lack of support by the family, my inability to find new work, the destruction of a paid internship in my new field of work by my brother-in-law dumping an estate on me, the shrinking of my new work network due to the bullying of the female consultants and the Professor; the lack of money I had to fix the sink –or anything else in my life. At one point, I found myself conducting daily online surveys for quarters and collecting discarded cans on my daily walks. I had no other means to support myself, and spending hours submitting resumes only to be ghosted after the first interview where my references were vetted – left me feeling worse and worse.

After all, I had graduated from college Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude. Even that hard-won accomplishment did not mean anything to potential employers after the Professor had her say. (And yes, I had been a witness to her passing on all kinds of comments about an individual worker beyond just confirming that someone had worked for her). I didn't have money to fight the retaliation, even if I could have found a lawyer to represent me.

Eventually, things changed. The Professor died at her desk, and the Huffington Post and the Clearing House for Public Integrity revealed her falsified statistics. I finally got a job that allowed me to overcome whatever negative comments were being told about me by the female consultants. The family stopped trying to hoover us back into the fold - even though they never apologized for, nor paid for, the extensive financial and educational damage they caused.

This last month, after finally paying down all my school debts (tripled by my in-laws), my husband and I finally fixed the broken sink. I realized that I had used that cracked sink to punish myself for being bullied, even though I knew I was ultimately not at fault for the bullying that had happened to me. I had used that sink as self-punishment. and suddenly, that symbol was gone.

I wrote a book titled "Ten Steps to Overcome Workplace Bullying." I've now decided there may be an eleventh step that arrives as we finally overcome the damage. After I was left to sort out the problems caused by multiple bullies, I had no choice but to find a new way forward. Thus, this step represents what finally pushes us to repair the abuse that was done while the abuser(s) continue to deny the damage they caused. This step enables us to resolve the anger within ourselves, even as it preserves our right not to forgive.

That made me wonder: Do we all carry a symbol of a broken sense of self with us long after we've been bullied out of our jobs and our ability to take care of ourselves?

Let me know in the comments below.

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How Union Stewards Can Stand Up Against Workplace Bullying

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 23:45:39 +0000

For the past five months, I have been working on finalizing the second edition of The Union Steward's Guide to Dealing with Workplace Bullying. This was a book that refused to settle down and often mirrored the chaos in our national environment. Minor errors and printing problems kept popping up. Even as I worked on sections covering the backup support of federal agencies that were being dismantled, I persevered, maintaining my faith in a judicial system that would not allow an authoritarian despot to strip away the few protections that most workers have. Of course, these are not the same agencies that Trump attempted to dismantle in 2016 with his first attempt to undermine worker protections. However, the fact that they still exist is hopeful when faced with an administration that relies on retaliation as a means of governance.

The fact is that unions represent one of the most powerful means of protection for workers in the United States, despite their tendency, like many organizations, towards toxicity and corruption. This is why Trump wants so desperately to dismantle the National Labor Relations Board. Unions—despite their many problems —still represent a form of democracy in action while providing much-needed and seldom available direct support in the working environment. This support depends on well-trained union stewards who are supported by their organization. This training is what The Union Steward's Guide hopes to provide.

Union stewards and their bargaining unit counterparts have the distinct advantage of being equal to management in terms of worker protections against unreasonable, discriminatory, and harassing behaviors. While this Union Steward's Guide primarily focuses on California State government workers, the book also provides a process map for determining how to build a bullying case that will withstand abusive management, along with strategy tips and communication tips for dealing with abusive managers. One chapter focuses on supporting the member who is often stressed and suffering from trauma due to undeserved abuse.

My co-author, Jeffrey Recht (retired. SEIU Local 1000 steward), and I hope this book will find additional stewards in other states who will want to work with us to create training guides to detail the laws and pathways available in their states, along with their hard-earned strategy tips and insights. Overall, we hope this training approach can strengthen the union's stance against workplace bullying and harassment.

The United States of America clearly has a bullying problem that needs to be addressed from the top down. We are currently seeing the results of what a bully can do to federal worker protections and the chaos that results from narcissistic authoritarianism as an approach to a "management style." Bullying is an excuse to abuse. It has never been a management style that works. It harms workers, makes them sick, damages their brains, and affects families in the most negative ways possible.

Workplace bullying is like having domestic violence in the workplace. It's long past time for states to adopt a solid anti-bullying law that holds abusers accountable and protects whistleblowers and targeted workers from being harmed for simply doing their jobs and being accountable to the rules. Companies (and the federal government) should be willing to extend a duty of care to their employees to protect them from this undeserved abuse, often from those who are their best employees and most valuable yet unrecognized assets.

The Union Steward’s Guide to Dealing with Workplace Bullying: Featuring the Bad Boss Campaign is currently available on Amazon.com for a discounted price in order to make it more accessible in these times of whiplash tariffs and climbing expenses.

Take a Stand Against Workplace Bullying

Now more than ever, union stewards and worker advocates must be equipped with the tools and knowledge to defend their members from abuse, retaliation, and toxic management. The Union Steward’s Guide to Dealing with Workplace Bullying is more than a book—it's a battle plan for protecting workers and rebuilding a culture of respect and accountability in our workplaces.

Grab your copy today at a discounted price on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4dBRlOM

Know a fellow steward or union leader? Share this with them. Together, we can strengthen the fight for fairness and dignity on the job.

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How We Get Trapped: The Narcissistic Promise and Challenge

Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:55 +0000

I wrote this blog several years ago after reading Shahida Arabi's excellent book entitled Becoming the Narcissist's Nightmare. With Trump's second term just beginning, I thought a return to the concept of the narcissistic pattern would be appropriate. In Arabi's first chapter, Recognizing the Narcissist, she described the abuse cycle of this relationship as Idealize, Devalue, Discard, Destroy, and Hoover. I'd like to expand on the "Idealize" section that she described as the "honeymoon phase, where I was properly 'groomed,' complimented, flattered, placed on a pedestal, followed by incidents of devaluation littered throughout the idealization phase." (p. 45)

I call my experience of the idealization phase "the narcissistic challenge," and it is always tied to a promise. Many of the narcissists in my life have used it--an aberrant serial bully professor at a world-class university, my mother-in-law, and two female consultants that I worked for. It has been one of my most sensitive traps based on a constant need to prove myself and to excel. (Being raised by abusive parents will do this to you.) As far as weaknesses go, this need to value myself in the workplace by meeting the needs of my employer should fall under "employee engagement." Unfortunately, because we are discussing narcissists, the narcissistic promise and challenge are always boosted by acts of deceit, manipulation, and devaluation, in which the stakes for success are raised ever higher. Ultimately, success is impossible because the narcissist does not want you to succeed, and they are in control of the game.

In my case, this narcissistic promise and challenge was marked by a "you are special" ploy that was designed to set me apart from some other person: a former or current employee, a sibling, or another family member. It always played to my strengths with a false promise that I would be rewarded: receiving a needed boost in pay, a position, or some special item I needed. However, the promise was a trap that was never fulfilled. No matter how hard or long I worked, the work was devalued, and the challenge to achieve the promise was replaced by another challenge with a higher bar. This increasing challenge was presented as, "Well, if you just do this one more thing, then I can do this for you. However, you are so much better than the last person. I'm sure you will have no problem doing this."

You can see how seductive this proposition can be in the workplace or in government, especially if the narcissist has already placed you in a position of dependence. But the dependence is the point; the promise replaced orput off by another challenge or yet another promise is designed to keep you hooked into the narcissist and waiting and hoping endlessly for that promise to be fulfilled – whether it is that promised salary or a lower price for groceries. For the narcissist, this is a source of pleasure or satisfaction of just getting another one over on you in a continuing cycle of abuse. By now, some disappointed voters are waking up to this ploy.

Cyber-bullying and Cyber-Stalking Are on the Rise

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 05:18:41 +0000

My introduction to workplace bullying was in the late 1990s in Silicon Valley. During the initial Internet "dot.com" expansion into commerce, I supervised a secretarial service pool in a large law firm that operated 24/7 to keep up with the work. The workplace bullying followed what is now a recognized pattern: An inexperienced department manager replaced a highly experienced manager who left for another job. The new manager developed allies who believed they deserved more than they were getting. They started pushing out perceived rivals and blocking work for "unliked" supervisors to obtain more. A fellow supervisor who should have been promoted to the department manager position was targeted for removal. When a part-time weekend secretary passed away due to overwork and high doses of Fen-Phen, this supervisor was blamed. Chaos ensued. Gossip and loyalties tore apart a once cohesive and supportive secretarial service pool. Workers became fearful and departed, leaving the department short-staffed.

The off-hours phone calls from crying secretaries sent me back to college. I thought adding letters behind my name would help others believe me when I spoke about the anti-business behavior I had experienced. It did not. When I moved on to academia, I learned firsthand that the horror and denial of workplace bullying existed outside law firms. Earning a degree with honors did not protect me. Instead, it made me a naïve target for sabotage by a manipulative boss gaming the system. The professor blocked me from working for nine years after deliberately overworking and underpaying me in a bait-and-switch scheme. The stress from the overwork scheme made me so sick I could not work for over three years. As one of the continuously disappearing financial analysts, I was number nine over the 15 years of her tenure. Because of these two experiences, I became an anti-bullying advocate. I wrote a book on the bullying cycle. I co-authored another book with a union steward for union stewards in California. I have supported and coached targets through the workplace bullying cycle for over 20 years.

Recently, I became reacquainted with the trajectory of cyber-bullying in Silicon Valley's startup culture. Cyberbullying is defined "as an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself" (Smith et al., 2008, p. 376). The difference is that work tools become the source of trauma workers must face whenever they attempt to conduct business. Like in-person bullying, the outcomes for the target replicate face-to-face bullying in the work environment, leaving an adverse impact on an individual's physical and mental health (Rao & Rao, 2021). Symptoms of being cyber-bullied include depression, insomnia, loss of productivity and engagement, lowered job satisfaction, and job loss. Organizational outcomes result in formal complaints with regulatory agencies and lawsuits against the offending company.

The young woman who contacted me was cyberstalked after working at a startup AI robotics company – one of many new ventures taking over the Valley. Cyberstalking involves the repeated and deliberate use of the Internet and electronic communication tools to frighten, intimidate or harass someone" (Brown et al., 2017, p. 57). This woman had been doxed and received cryptic messages indicating journalists were writing about her. Simultaneously, she continually received messages from other unknown individuals that her home security and computer cameras had been hacked. After law enforcement came and went, she received more messages that calling the police would accomplish nothing. Her crime was refusing a date request sent by email.

This notice of cyber-stalling preceded several more women suddenly posting about this problem in my response to my posts on LinkedIn and SafeHarbor, a support community for targets that I moderate. The women told a similar story of stalkers trolling on dating and support forums, attempting to establish relationships that quickly turned sour. They all complained about the impossibility of stopping this technology-enabled harassment that followed them everywhere.

What is particularly disturbing and terrorizing is the community of like-minded allies the cyberstalker recruits to support the cyberstalking project on Internet forums like 8chan, 4chan, Anonymous, and KiwiFarms (Cross, 2019; Nieborg & Foxman, 2018). On these forum sites, the original complainant can create a profile of the target, establish a justification for revenge, and recruit and challenge followers to take up the cause against the target. If you are female, the language in messages becomes increasingly sexualized and denigrating, while challenges issued by the original stalker to help stalk the target increasingly feel like a game reminiscent of the sub-culture of feminist and anti-trans animosity organized around #Gamergate in 2014 and 2015 (Cross, 2019; Nieborg & Foxman, 2018). The technological sophistication of these group attacks means the stalking can appear through home security and computer cameras, social media sites, and doxing -- spreading private information online without the target's knowledge or permission.) Unfortunately, ongoing engagement in online incel forums affected participants' changes in their emotional experiences and online radicalization about women through the development of hate echo chambers (de Roos et al., 2024). Internet use disorder has also been studied as a precursor to cyberstalking behavior (Floros & Mylona, 2022).

According to SafeHome.org, 7.5 million people experience cyberstalking yearly, and 80% of victims are tracked using technology. Cyberstalkers (61%) use everyday communication tools like smartphones, text messaging, and email. Less than a third of cyberstalking is reported because most actions to halt cyberstalking appear ineffective. Instead, 69% of victims suffer emotional distress and can repeat the tale of job disruption and loss originally expressed by that young woman from Silicon Valley. Additionally, while the problem can follow someone home, the 2024 Workplace Bullying Institute survey on the state of workplace bullying found that 51% of hybrid (remote and onsite combined) workers represented the highest category for bullied workers in the United States.

Call to Action

The first woman who contacted me relayed that the EEOC moderator's impression of the company's representatives was that they were more interested in knowing how well the stalking worked as opposed to stopping the harassment. Due to this attitude, establishing a safer technological environment using reliable legislation and strengthened EEOC laws on cyber-harassment and cyber-stalking should be a primary concern. Cyber Bullying Research, an online nonprofit studying cyber abuse, reports that 47 states have some form of law against electronic or digital abuse. However, only six state laws use the term "cyberstalking." (Cyberbullying.org, accessed November 12, 2024). Organizations should also ensure workers have a safer work environment along with mechanisms for oversite to ensure stalking can be stopped. If you are being stalked, you should connect with the following organizations to seek help:
· Victim Connect Resource Center https://victimconnect.org/
· National Domestic Violence Hotline https://www.thehotline.org/
· RAINN – National Sexual Assault Hotline https://rainn.org/
· Social Media Victims Law Center https://socialmediavictims.org/

If you are female, you can share your harassment story with others on Right to Be.
https://righttobe.org/

More resources, tips, and information can be found at:

· Cyber Bullying Research at https://cyberbullying.org/
· CyberHelp Online at: https://www.thecyberhelpline.com/
· Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) at https://www.stalkingawareness.org/

Dictionary of cyber-bullying terms:

Denigration – spreading malicious information to damage a victim's reputation
Doxxing –collecting and then spreading personal information online
Flaming – a perpetrator uses foul and violent language as cyberbullying in discussion rooms or chat and comment fields because specific individuals or groups convey angry and disrespectful messages online
#GamerGate – GamerGate occurred during 2014-2015 when a community of online gamers harassed three feminists critical of game elements denigrating women
Masquerading – pretending to be someone else, usually the victim
Outing– outing is a form of doxing – sharing your personal information online
Swatting – Using personal information to file reports or emergency responses from the police on a targeted individual
Trolling – fishing for a reaction online by leaving negative comments

References

Brown, A., Gibson, M. & Short, M. (2017). Modes of cyberstalking and cyberharassment: Measuring the negative effects in the lives of victims in the UK. Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine, 57-63.
Cross, K. (2019). Toward a formal sociology of online harassment. Human Technology, 15(3), 326-346. DOI: 10.17011/ht/urn.201911265023
Cyber Bullying Research Center (2024). https://cyberbullying.org/
de Roos, M.S., Veldhuizen-Ochodnicanova’, & Hanna, A. (2014). The angry echo chamber: A study of extremist and emotional language changes in incel communities over time. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 39(21-22), 4573-4597
Floros, G. & Mylona, I. (2022). Association of cyberbullying and Internet use disorder. Current Addiction Reports, (, 575-588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-022-00440-9
Niebor, D. & Foxman, M. (2018). Chapter 6. Mainstreaming misogyny: The beginning of the end and the end of the beginning in Gamergate coverage. In J.R. Vickery, T. Everbach, (2018). Mediating misogyny. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72917-6_6
Piotrowski, C. (2012). From workplace bullying to cyberbullying: The enigma of e-harassment in modern organizations. Organization Development Journal, 30(4), 44-53.
Rao, M. E. & Rao, D. M. (2021). The mental health of high school students during the COVID-19 PANDEMIC. Frontiers in Education, 6, 719539. DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2021.719539
Sheridan, M. (2024, October 1). The latest cyberstalking statistics for 2024. SafeHome.org
Smith, P.K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S. and Tippett, N. (2008), Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49: 376-385. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01846.x
Workplace Bullying Institute (2024). 2024 Workplace Bullying Survey, https://workplacebullying.org/wbi-research/

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Celebrating 34 Years of Workplace Bullying Awareness and Collaboration

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 21:21:56 +0000

The words “workplace bullying” were first coined by Andrea Adams, a British journalist and broadcaster, in 1989, after her radio broadcast, “An Abuse of Power,” was flooded with mail from listeners. The words first appeared in print in 1992 when Andrea published her book Bullying at Work: How to Confront and Overcome It. This year marks 34 years since the unnecessary and harmful abuse received by workers targeted by bullies at work was first identified.

I support targeted workers (Targets) and speak out to educate others on workplace bullying. I have done so since first being a bystander to bullying in a large Silicon Valley law firm in 1998. This event was so disturbing that it caused me to return to school to study the how and why of the bullying phenomenon in organizations. (Someone had died of natural causes off-duty, but a supervisor was being blamed for the death in order to ruin her chances for advancement.) Then, after I graduated with honors with a dual degree, I was bullied and blocked from working during the Great Recession by a renowned epidemiologist, then bullied again by my in-laws during graduate school, and then again as a freelance consultant. In each case, the relationship deteriorated from friendly and seemingly supportive to a living hell. Even though I repeatedly asked others for help, there was none available from those bystanders who could have done something to minimize the pain and financial damage by speaking out or admitting that they at least saw what was going on. Unfortunately, my story is not that unusual, and we need to work harder to change the ability of bystanders to feel safe to help others in this kind of distress.

Finding an attorney who understood the trauma and damage that I was facing was nearly impossible. Hardly anyone knew or understood what the problem really was, and two attorneys wanted to blame me for what had occurred. Other than Dr. Gary Namie, hardly anyone was talking about the issue in the United States, and most people did not understand it or the shame the abuser forced onto the Target. It was not until the California training law was passed in 2014, that I even dared to think I could talk about what had happened to me for fear of negatively branding myself. I am sure I was not alone in this predicament.

There are now employment attorneys who will defend the Target, and there is an increasing understanding of the damage that stress-related bullying does to the brain and the body. A mandatory training law exists in California, and there has also been a concerted effort to pass a psychological safety work bill in Massachusetts and Oregon. There is also increasing awareness and laws against childhood bullying – David’s law – SB 179 – was passed in Texas in 2017, and Alaska statutes 14.33.200-14.33.250 were signed into law in 2006.

Additional support groups have sprung up to help those being bullied. But most of all, groups of individuals, like the Workplace Bullying Institute, the International Association on Workplace Bullying and Harassment, the Canadian Institute of Workplace Bullying Resources, Dignity at Work, Academic Parity, #bulliedtoo, and others, are coming together to speak out against the abuse in the workplace that targets the best employees and the hardest workers. In other words, together, we have made progress. Those of us who have worked for and supported this progress need to take a moment to celebrate how far this issue has come from total obscurity.

Then, of course, we need to carry on with exposing the real irony – which is -- we still do not have a law or clear recourse against this devastatingly harmful behavior. The commonality of the abuse and the resultant damage – financial, emotional, and physical – are eerily similar in each and every case – no matter where the abuse occurs. Still, nothing is done by those in power who say they want engaged employees without doing anything to protect those who are already engaged. That lack of protection sends a very loud message to American workers. Even though we follow an individual social and political doctrine, by allowing this type of abuse to continue, we tell certain workers that they are not valued – no matter what they bring to the table, and we tell other workers that they will always be protected – no matter what harm and chaos they bring. And by unquestionably allowing this disrespect and lack of concern, we also ruin the American dream for those individuals who have worked hard to try to attain it.

We are moving forward from this month to year 35 in promoting workplace bullying awareness. Our numbers are growing, and our voices are getting louder every day. Those who are joining together to stand against this abuse need to be seen as the heroes they are. I applaud them all, and someday, their efforts to make things better for workers everywhere will be recognized and celebrated. Until then, I invite you to help us reach the finish line and embrace healthier and safer workplaces for everyone. Please write to your representative and ask for their support to prevent workplace bullying.

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WHAT IS BULLYING? Understanding the Abuse

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 20:36:00 +0000

When others were playing, they would stop if they saw Frodo because if he joined in, someone would get hurt. He attacked the visiting cartoonist, Gary Larsen. At his worse, he threw rocks and snatched and killed a human baby. He also threatened Jane Goodall, the woman who had been studying him his entire life (JaneGoodall.org, 09/29/2015).

For 56 years, Jane Goodall lived with chimpanzees like Frodo in the Gombe National Park of Tanzania. Jane not only named her subjects but also developed relationships with them. During her long years in the field, she described their individual personalities in detail in several of her books and in the films of her photographer ex-husband, Hugo van Lawick. Many of Jane's recorded observations of the social relationships and behaviors of the Gombe chimpanzees allowed her to make groundbreaking discoveries about our connections with the great ape species, including tool use, eating meat, and displaying human-like emotions in inter-species relationships. During Jane's tenure, she saw births, deaths, and hierarchical dominance played out among males and females. She also saw the original tribe split in two and wage war with each other. This “Four Year War” also revealed aggressive behaviors, as well as the details about two particularly violent females – Passion and her daughter Pom—who killed other mothers and infants without provocation in their own community,

Their goal was to seize the infants and eat them. In other words, they showed cannibalistic behavior. Between them they may have killed all 10 infants born during a two-year period. The attacks only stopped when both Passion and Pom delivered babies of their own… We still do not totally understand this unpleasant behavior. I felt I hated Passion and Pom at the time. Unfortunately, we have seen the same behavior in other mothers over the succeeding years. These violent behaviours – boundary attacks, the Four Year War and cannibalism – forever changed my view of chimpanzees: I had thought they were so like us, but nicer. This turned out not to be true – but it is almost certain that chimpanzees cannot fully comprehend the pain and suffering they inflicted on their victims. Nor can they plan physical and mental torture. Only we are capable of true evil (JaneGoodall.org. (07/20/2015).

Dominance in the Gombe chimpanzee tribe was linked to status, and with that status came better access to food and sex. A 2014 study of the offspring born between 1995 and 2003 confirmed this underlying motivation when it was found that the dominant and more aggressive chimps had fathered more babies.

These findings lead researchers to suggest that long-term intimidation tactics offered what may have been the first genetic evidence of sexual coercion as an adaptive strategy in any social mammal (Feldblum et al., 2014). As an explanation of our animal past, these chimpanzees indicate that bullyingmay have been encoded during evolutionary development as a reproductive means of survival. This adaptive strategy has also been suggested as narcissism's evolutionary root (Holtzman & Donnellan, 2015).

References

Feldblum, J. T., Wroblewski, E. E., Rudicell, R. S., Hahn, B. H., Paiva, T., Cetinkaya-Rundel, M., Pusey, A. E., & Gilby, I. (2014). Sexually coercive male chimpanzees sire more offspring. Current Biology, 24(23), 2855-2860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.039

JaneGoodall.org. (09/29/2015). https:// news.janegoodall.org/2015/09/29/the-famous-chimps-of-gombe/7

JaneGoodall.org. (07/20/2015). http://news.janegoodall.org/2015/07/20/55-years-at-gombe-qa-with-jane-on-origins-of-life-work/

Holtzman, N. S., & Donnellan, M. B. (2015). The roots of narcissus: Old and new models of the evolution of narcissism. In V. Zeigler-Hill, L. L. M. Welling, & T. K. Shackelford

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The Healthy Workplace Bill

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 20:00:29 +0000

There is no status-blind law that directly addresses harassment in the workplace.

Workplace bullying is "repeated mistreatment; abusive conduct that is threatening, intimidating, or humiliating; work sabotage or verbal abuse." (Workplace Bullying Institute, 2021). During the Covid-19 Pandemic, while many workers toiled from home, The Workplace Bullying Institute's 2021 survey found that 43% of remote workers felt bullied. While efforts are being made in several states to pass legislation against bullying, the only state law we have is California law (Government Code section 12950.1) which instituted a bullying awareness training law in 2015 through AB2053.

This law requires that all California employers of 5 or more workers train their employees regarding sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention. Every two years, non-supervisory employees must receive 1 hour of training, and supervisors must receive 2 hours of training. While sexual harassment is a form of abuse and bullying at work, workplace bullying training is often tacked on at the end, leaving much about the phenomenon unaddressed.

Further, the text of current law uses criteria to define “abusive conduct” (AKA bullying) that cannot be established in most cases. The law says,

For purposes of this section, “abusive conduct” means conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer's legitimate business interests.

The problem with this law is contained in the words “with malice.” Performing an act "with malice" means there is deliberate aforethought and intention to the conduct. For those of us who have been bullied by the experienced narcissist in the office setting, the general disposition of the person enacting the harm may seem like constant malice. Still, the actual proof of the behavior may not rise to a legal threshold for prosecution. Due to this issue which leaves most targeted workers “out in the cold,” Dr. David Yamada, the author of the first workplace bullying law, has further modified the Healthy Workplace Bill.

Information about the HWB can be found here: https://www.healthyworkplacebill.org

This bill places the responsibility on the individual abuser, not the company if the company has made efforts to ensure a healthy workplace.

If you would like to join a group working to guarantee workers’ rights against bullying under the law, the California Healthy Workplace Advocates (HWA) are seeking a California sponsor in the legislature. The California HWA was instrumental in obtaining a sponsor and legislation for AB2053, and they are working to pass the modified legislation. If you would like to join in this effort, the website address is: http://www.bullyfreeworkplace.org

Also, bills have been introduced in New York, Massachusetts, and West Virginia. The information is listed below so you can write to your representative if you are in those states:

· New York: A3330, sponsor Latoya Joyner; S1753, cosponsor Sen. Jessica Ramos.

· Massachusetts: SD712

· West Virginia: HB 3225

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