Whenever two sides disagree on an issue it's best when government steps in and comes up with a compromise that hurts both parties equally.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100721/us_time/08599200535800


Workplace Bullying: New York Bill Targets Abusive Bosses

There are some very important things they don't tell you on career day. Chief among them is that there is a good chance that at some point during your working adult life you will have an abusive boss - the kind who uses his or her authority to torment subordinates. Bullying bosses scream, often with the goal of humiliating. They write up false evaluations to put good workers' jobs at risk. Some are serial bullies, targeting one worker and, when he or she is gone, moving on to their next victim.

Bosses may abuse because they have impossibly high standards, are insecure or have not been properly socialized. But some simply enjoy it. Recent brain-scan research has shown that bullies are wired differently. When they see a victim in pain, it triggers parts of their brain associated with pleasure. (See 10 ways your job will change.)

Worker abuse is a widespread problem - in a 2007 Zogby poll, 37% of American adults said they had been bullied at work - and most of it is perfectly legal. Workers who are abused based on their membership in a protected class - race, nationality or religion, among others - can sue under civil rights laws. But the law generally does not protect against plain old viciousness.

That may be about to change. Workers' rights advocates have been campaigning for years to get states to enact laws against workplace bullying, and in May they scored their biggest victory. The New York state senate passed a bill that would let workers sue for physical, psychological or economic harm due to abusive treatment on the job. If New York's Healthy Workplace Bill becomes law, workers who can show that they were subjected to hostile conduct - including verbal abuse, threats or work sabotage - could be awarded lost wages, medical expenses, compensation for emotional distress and punitive damages.

Not surprisingly, many employers oppose the bill. They argue that it would lead to frivolous lawsuits and put them at risk for nothing more than running a tight ship and expecting a lot from their workers. But supporters of the law point out that it is crafted to cover only the most offensive and deliberate abuse. The bill requires that wrongful conduct be done with "malice," and in most cases that it has to be repeated. It also provides affirmative defenses for companies that investigate promptly and address the problem in good faith. (See "When Bullying Goes Criminal.")

The New York state assembly is expected to take up the bill next year. At least 16 other states are considering similar bills, and some employment-law experts think antibullying legislation may have real momentum now.

Legislatures are not the only ones standing up to bullies. In 2008, the Indiana supreme court struck a blow against workplace bullying when it upheld a $325,000 verdict against a cardiovascular surgeon. A medical technician who operated a heart and lung machine during surgery accused the surgeon of charging at him with clenched fists, screaming and swearing. The formal legal claims were intentional infliction of emotional distress and assault, but the plaintiff argued it as a bullying case, and had an expert on workplace bullying testify at trial. (Comment on this story.)

Ideally, employers should rein in abusive bosses on their own, but that rarely happens. Many bullies are close to powerful people in the organization and carefully target less powerful ones. When John Bolton was nominated to be ambassador to the U.N. by President George W. Bush, a former subordinate told the Senate that Bolton was a "serial abuser" and - in a phrase that has since entered the bullying lexicon - a "kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy." (See "How Not to Raise a Bully.")

There are reasons workplace bullying may be getting worse now, including the bad economy. In good times, abused workers can simply walk out on a job if they are being mistreated. But with unemployment at around 9.5%, and five job seekers for every available job, many employees feel they have no choice but to stay put.

Another factor is the decline of organized labor. Unions were once a worker's front-line defense against an abusive boss. If a supervisor was out of line, the shop steward would talk to him - on behalf of all of the workers. But union membership has fallen from 35% of the workforce in the 1950s to under 13% today, and some unions are less aggressive than they once were. (See what to do if you have a bad boss.)

That leaves litigation. There seems to be a strong constituency for laws allowing workers to sue over workplace abuse. The vote on the Healthy Workplace Bill was bipartisan and not close: New York state senators favored it 45 to 16.

If states enact laws of this kind and lawsuits begin to be filed, juries are far more likely to sympathize with the bullied worker than the bullying boss - and damages awards could be large. There is one easy way for employers to head all of this off: get more serious about rooting out abusive bosses before serious damage is done.

Cohen, a lawyer, is a former TIME writer and a former member of the New York Times editorial board

Let's keep that silly shit in New York, ok?

On behalf on Pennsylvania (the at will employment state) I would like to welcome all of our soon to be new ex-New York business'.

I see no issues with the company that employs a  manager who screams, yells, or swears at people, being fined for not removing that person from a job.

There is never any reason to "bully" workers.

Av.

Do you honestly believe that is the intent or that is how it will be applied?

No. Its about time. I like the idea.

People to not have a "right" to work at a particular place.  If you can't live with your manager, boo-hoo, find a new job...

Jeez people.

- AG

It's a stupid idea that will kill jobs.

I am inferring by your screen name that you are about 23 or 24?
Please don't take this the wrong way but.....
I have yet to meet a twenty something that doesn't need to be "yelled at" once in a while to get their head right.

I promise in ten years you will look back and say "Wow, I really deserved that ass whooping"

PS. If you don't like working for someone, start your own business.

So you're okay with bosses that throw things at people?  Or bosses that lie on evaluations/disciplinary issues?  It's a fine line but clearly there are bosses that step over it on a regular basis and should not be in charge.

Brian

Sorry, for most it isn't that simple. If it were, people would. But you knew that.

To throw something at someone is assault.  We already have laws about that.

As far as telling a lie or whatever, please.  Trying to legislate good management skills is absolutely absurd.

- AG

A boss that throws something at you has just commited an assault. Call the police.



A boss that lies on any company paperwork should be reported to HR and will hopefully be handled by higher ups.



Neither of those instance should be something your able to sue the company for money over.

Sorry, but you make your own bed and it is Goddamnit.



You enter into a contract with your boss when you accept payment for your work.  If you don't like it, you should become boss, not have had kids early, gotten a better education, applied for a grant, applied for a scholarship, chosen a different career, learned a new trade, learned a new skill, begged, gotten on welfare, or just SHUT THE FUCK UP and do your job.
 

It is that simple.  No one is owed a wage or fair treatment.  Sorry, life isn't always fair.  Trying to legislate life into being fair is assinine.

- AG

Well I guess that's easier than fixing the economy.  People wouldn't work for an asshole if they had options.  

I had a boss that could have been considered a bully. I simply asked him to stop being a prick and he quit being so damn mean.
Current boss is nice in comparison.

When the boss has a history of outbursts/throwing things and the company doesn't do anything about it I'd say that's a perfect time to sue the company.

Wouldn't lying on evaluations fall under defamation?  How does the victim get restitution w/o suing?

Brian

i had a manager like that once.  she got 1% commission on all sales and when i was hired it was split with me 50/50.  well she didnt like that one bit and set out to fuck me over.  once, she opened the office on a day after i had closed.  she literally trashed the placed (threw papers around and moved furniture) and made a big production about it being like that when she came in.  she would also return inventory that i had ordered and then blame me when we were short .  she would also throw stuff at employees and yell at them in front of customers, telling them that they were idiots, etc

Eta yes I know its New York only....



And you think the fix is more government intrusion into your life? No. It's internal and should stay that way. I'm the best boss 90% of my guys have ever had but the 10% of lazy shits I get would probably say I'm an abusive boss because when everyone is producing and you're sitting on your ass, I am going to yell, I might throw things, and so on......  but laziness is its own reward I suppose as long as big brother makes sure I'm nice to the piles of crap too. Fine, from now on I'll just fire them instead of trying to motivate them to do their jobs.....

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I see no reason government should be involved.

If you don't like your asshole boss, quit.

The next time a boss throws something at you, just remind him/her that next time, they need to be a little selective about what they throw because it is going to go up their rear end sideways.  They tend to understand such concepts when properly communicated.

I am guessing supporters of this bill are in the "picked on" type of people that do not know what to do in such a situation.

I'm willing to bet he does.

TXL

yet another reason not to hire.

you're a small business, looking to expand, who wants this shit where you get stuck with some craptastic employee who can't tie their shoelaces and now they feel picked upon
now they can sue you?

forget it, stay small, no employees

this decision will be made 1000's of times a day.

He gets his paycheck and pension from the .gov.  This is just the blue union supporting more union.

The big mean corp boss is mean.  

Here's a news tip brian.  No boss has the authority to make you stay and work for them except one.

TXL

yeah for the nanny state

+1 entitlement mentality reinforced by the government.

Entitled to having a boss who has rainbows, teddy bears and a unicorn coming out of his anus.

Exactly.

As far as bosses yelling at folks ..........well........some folks need to be yelled at .

More fucking restraints , orchestrated by big brother.........yippeee

And the government enforced pussification of America continues.

Until you've had a boss stab you in the belly with his pocket knife and then expect you to complete your shift, I don't want to hear shit about your intolerable boss that yells at you.

fixed it

I think it's more that the law will be abused. Isn't it already unlawful to do those things? How are you going to prove someone lied on an evaluation? Do you think that everyone with a bad evaluation isn't going to lie?!?

Like the last director I had that was an EO/AA appointee. Director of a technical department but I had to show him how to create a shortcut on a Windows desktop with a mouse right click and use F2 to rename it.  And I got poor to mediocre reviews since he evaluated me not on how well I did my job but how PC he thought that I did it. He would deride any idea of mine as being too expensive until 6 months later it magically became HIS idea that he got accolades for at the company meetings. He would say that my communications were too technical and that would have to send several messages to clarify what I said when what was happening was that we were determining the exact cause of the error; and this was the primary thing that he used to justify poor reviews.

Man I got the crap bullied out of me at basic.

I guess instead of arguing the point at hand you could take it to an absurd level that justifies your position.

I've had hot-tempered tyrants for bosses who never truly got the justice they deserved.

That being said, I'm certain government is the right answer to this problem.

While I'd love to see douchebag bosses (the worst of the worst) have a tougher go of it, I'm thinking this is the wrong way of going about it.

And it's much easier these days with cell phone cameras and even the company's on video systems.

It's all based on Marxian Conflic theory.



One who has little or no control over their labor or the production process is the "working class" and will rise up against their bondage.



Sheesh.  

sadly this.



why make the government watch your back, handle the problem yourself.



i'm not sure how the government can help a worker conquer the self respect issues needed to prevent this in the first place.

i know this is a foreign concept to most people, but this is the responsibility of the individual.



 

Okay, where's the rest of the story. You know, like the part where you went to the ER and he went to jail.

I think it was in an Anthony Bourdain book that had a chef cut off his finger in the kitchen. Rushed him to the hospital, had it stitched back on, and then put him back to work.

Faggot ass pencil necks that like to abuse people need to be kicked in the throat or have their nose broken.

Abusive bosses fucking with livelihoods for no reason?! You screw with someone's ability to feed their family just because you like being and asshole and you should probably be shot.

There is a cubic mile of WTF in some of these replies.

Not really.  28 now, and I never took that message away.

I had an abusive boss once.  I finally got tired of him and chewed his ass in front of God and all one day.  I figured for sure I was fired, and I didn't give a shit, but he didn't fire me.  Never understood why, either.

That asshat eventually got fired himself.  So fuck him, and all his progeny.

This was back in '87 or '88. Working at a grocery store in high school. My boss was an asshole of epic proportions at work. Yelled, threw shit, the whole nine yards. He went off on me one night about something I apparently did wrong and attributed it to the fact that I have a Jewish last name. I said something about him being an inbred hick that liked to have three ways with his sister and mother. That hit a nerve and he stuck me. Small Case pocket knife, I managed to move most of my stomach out of the way, but he still got me with about a 1/2" of the blade. Luckily it was a sideways hit that pretty much stayed just under the skin.

He was going to make me work the last hour of my shift before I could go to the doc. Instead I called the cops and went to the ER.

For once, we agree on something.

If a boss damages your livelihood or chances of advancement by lying, it should be his ass in a big way.

I still don't support the bill though.  It won't solve the problem it's crafted to solve and will create others

Don't worry.  When the economy recovers, these guys are going to be the ones starving.

People hold grudges.  When Shithead McBoss is no longer the only game in town, he's going to end up out on his ass.