New Bill Targets Workplace Bullying

By Alexandra Gekas, WomansDay.com

When I was a kid dealing with playground politics, my mom promised me that once I became an adult, I’d never have to deal with bullies again. Boy, was she wrong. As a business owner, she works for herself and has no idea how bad office politics can get.

I’ve experience firsthand, just how bad an abusive boss can be, so luckily it looks like that might change.

According to Time.com, workers’ rights groups scored a big victory in May, when the New York state senate passed a bill that would let workers sue for harm caused by abusive treatment on the job.

I have SO been there. And trust me, it’s that bad. I worked in an environment where my boss would yell at everyone, humiliating the victim of his choice in our daily meetings. And there was a trickle effect. He’d abuse everyone below him, his subordinates would abuse everyone below them and so on, so that the more entry-level people were being screamed at and insulted on a daily basis.

In any other circumstances I would have told him, in no uncertain terms, to never speak to me that way again. But when my boss yelled and me and my coworkers, we felt we could either stay silent and keep our jobs or complain and not pay the rent.

If a superior—who can get you fired—yells at you and degrades you, you feel you have no avenue to defend yourself for fear you will lose your job. Similarly to when a woman is sexually harassed by her boss and feels she can’t complain or she will get fired.

In fact, I would argue this kind of abuse is as bad as sexual harassment.

This law should pass because abuse of power is abuse of power. And when someone with authority over you uses it as an opportunity to degrade, humiliate and abuse you, the damage can be immeasurable.

After such a nightmare, the real redemption came when I moved on to a healthy working environment. Like coming out of an abusive relationship, being with someone who treats you well makes you see just how bad it was.

If I thought I was one of the few people with such an experience, I’d chock it up to bad luck. But in a 2007 Zogby poll, 37 percent of American adults said they had been bullied at work.

I can only hope that none of you have experienced this, but if you have, what was your situation?

If you are someone whose temper gets the best of you at work, read “Career Tip: Keeping Your Cool at Work,” so if this law passes, you don’t find yourself at the other end of a lawsuit.