The grade school bully may have
grown up to become the office oppressor, according to a new nationwide poll by
the Employment Law Alliance released on March 21, which found that nearly 45
percent of American workers say they have experienced workplace
abuse.
Stephen J. Hirschfeld, ELA'S chief
executive officer and an employment lawyer with the California-based law firm of
Curiale Dellaverson Hirschfeld & Kraemer LLP, said the poll results reflect
a growing recognition that abusive bosses are more than just an annoyance, but a
very real problem and that employees will increasingly demand protection, if not
from employers then the courts.
The poll addressed abusive behavior
by supervisors not typically regarded as serious enough to warrant special legal
protections afforded to racial, religious, or gender discrimination, commented
Hirschfeld.
"But when almost one-half of the
workers surveyed say they have personally been the victim of, seen or heard
about some form of abusive behavior by bosses, such as being rudely interrupted
or taunted about job performance in front of co-workers, it is not surprising
that 64 percent say there should be specific legal recourse for the victims,"
said Hirschfeld.
He noted that the survey comes at a
time when nearly one dozen state legislatures are considering laws to
specifically prohibit bullying in the workplace, when a management book, "The No
------- Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't," by
Stanford Professor Robert Sutton, Ph.D, is a best seller, when the word
"mobbing" is gaining currency in the American workplace as a form of employee
abuse by co-workers, and a non-profit think tank, The Workplace Bullying
Institute (http://www.bullybusters.org/), is regularly
featured in national and global media as it promotes workplace victims
rights.
In reacting to the poll results,
Sutton, professor of Management Science and Engineering, and co-founder of the
Center for Work, Technology and Organization said, "This national survey adds to
the growing mountain of evidence showing that abuse of power is a rampant
problem in the American workplace. It is time for senior management to realize
that this conduct damages their people and is costing them a fortune. Demeaned
workers respond with a reduced commitment and loss of productivity, and they run
for the exits to find more humane bosses. And these costs will keep escalating
as more victims realize that they can fight back in
court."
Hirschfeld, whose members comprise
the largest international network of employment lawyers, said that an aware
employer is a prepared employer when it comes to focusing on preventing
incidents and avoiding costly litigation.
"Only an employer in a state of
denial would ignore the poll results and not re-examine their personnel
policies, supervisor-employee relations and management training", he said. "One
of our Canadian members, Montreal-based lawyer Manon Savard from Ogilvy Renault,
reports a recent case, still under review, where an employer was ordered to pay
$5,000 as moral damages for inflicting psychological abuse under
The poll, conducted under the
supervision of Dr. Theodore Reed, president of the Philadelphia-based Reed
Group, was based on a survey of a representative sample of 1,000 American adults
within the past two weeks. Detailed interviews were conducted with 534 full or
part time workers. The confidence interval for this sample size is +/- 4.24
percent.
Complete poll results are posted on
the ELA Web site, http://www.employmentlawalliance.com/. Highlights
of the poll include:
- 44 percent said they have worked for
a supervisor or employer who they consider abusive.
- More than half of American workers
have been the victim of, or heard about supervisors/employers behaving abusively
by making sarcastic jokes/teasing remarks, rudely interrupting, publicly
criticizing, giving dirty looks to, or yelling at subordinates, or ignoring them
as if they were invisible.
- 64 percent said that they believe an
abused worker should have the right to sue to recover
damages
- Southern workers (34 percent) are
less likely to have experience with an abusive boss than are their Northeastern
(56 percent) and Midwestern (48 percent)
counterparts.
