What to Expect from New York’s “Workplace Bullying” Law
Unintended consequences.
Almost anyone who has been employed most likely has been bullied, and maybe some of us have bullied underlings (or even bosses) — though we never would admit it. Bullying is an unfortunate fact of life so, naturally, Progressives believe they can legislate it out of existence in order to form their More Perfect World.
Not surprisingly, Progressive New York State is leading the way with a proposed workplace anti-bullying law, and 16 other states are pushing forward with similar legislation. Time magazine reports:
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.
The state assembly has yet to act on the bill and may do so next year. While Time notes that employers see things differently, the writer declares the bill has lots of safeguards:
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.
All of this sounds just fine, especially for those of us who have survived bad bosses, but there is a larger issue: Laws like this increase the power of government to bully everyone else. Time and again we find that when government agents acquire power over others, not only do we see them regularly bullying (violently at that), but the agents usually are protected by law from the consequences of their actions.
Take an agency like Child Protective Services. Everyone wants children to be safe from abusive parents, but government has the power to take children from parents simply on the word of a CPS worker. Unsurprisingly, we hear horror stories about families being destroyed on false allegations, and legal abuses like the McMartin case (and numerous others) have come about because government claimed to be protecting children. Wrongly accused parents and others have almost no recourse because government bullies are protected from legal consequences by order of Congress and state legislatures.
There is no reason to think that anti-bullying bills will not turn into mechanisms by which unhappy or dishonest employees can destroy whole businesses. The costs of a single lawsuit, even if successfully defended, can destroy a lifetime of profits, and a loss can be disastrous.
Yes, there are workplace bullies, but at least people can walk away from most bad situations. When government does the bullying, however, there is no escape.
Comment by JT on 28 July 2010:
It feels like there is a ‘full court press’ to gum up the gears. How much overhead can our system bear before we implode?
Comment by Ali on 28 July 2010:
The apparent idea of the progressives (at least from what I see) that employers are taking advantage of employees, and that without the government on their side we would all be slave laborers just shows that they don’t see how labor has economical value to a market and that competition improves the quality of a workplace just like everything else in the market.
The fact that a job is an agreement between two parties (one trading labor, the other a paycheck and whatever benefits they may provide) doesn’t seem to cross their mind.
Laws like this only make finding jobs harder. If one looses his job and needs to find work quickly, it doesn’t help that employers are so much more timid about hiring employees that might sue them if they don’t appreciate their way of managing. Ever new hire could possibly become a huge liability. This also means employers will most likely be afraid to fire current employees for fear that the resentment of an ex-employee might lead to a lawsuit. This of course would create a great deal of inefficiency in the workplace which doesn’t seem very “progressive” to me.
Comment by Aquila on 28 July 2010:
Government is the true bully. It is the only organization that can “legitimately” wield force.
Just another case of the fox guarding the hen house.
Comment by Douglass Holmes on 28 July 2010:
I wonder if anyone will ever sue a union under this law.
Comment by Brittney on 28 July 2010:
I agree with your points, but I don’t see why you assert that this tort law increases government’s “bullying” power in the ways you gave as examples.
Comment by Charlie on 28 July 2010:
I’ve been on the side of the bullied. I’ve been verbally abused, the victim of intellectual terrorism, and subject to other abuses that even made my coworkers recoil in horror and at one point, almost resulted in a small-scale riot when the department head (I was teaching at the time,) became unresponsive, then disrepectful to them.
I worked for a city. This place violated every law about worker safety on the books, including forcing us to work in an unsafe environment.
The union help? No. Lawyers? No. The laws weren’t strong enough to protect me from the misbehavior and susequent loss of employment due to openly-demonstrated bias.
Yes, government is a bully, especially if you work for them. Could this law be a nightmare? Absolutely. Could it make matters worse, screw a business, ruin lives? Yes.
Do I support it. I support the principle, but things like this really can’t be legislated well.
You could complain, change jobs, etc., but in this economy? I wouldn’t be surprised if people ended up out of work for an extended period of time. Given the behavior of many employers, I also wouldn’t be shocked if enough hints were dropped that you stayed out of work by innuendo.
Here in Massachusetts, we’re watching the new school anti-bullying law take place, and I’m not sure how it’s going to work. I can see overzealous enforcement being used against students the administration or teacher don’t like. And there is no recourse.
Laws like this can only work if the accused have complete, absolute recourse and that doesn’t seem to be happening here.
This law, at least as presented here, will cause more problems than it helps cure.
Comment by Carrie Clark on 29 July 2010:
Little real research is shown here. First, Illinois was first to pass this law through their Senate. Second, NO AGENCY is set up to carry out this law. Best to read the bill. Third, the law’s intention is to correct and prevent workplace bullying by establishing a real punishment for bullies. Fourth, business may not be sued at all. Fifth, the boss could sue the subordinate under this law. Sixth, bullying is of great expense to business. Seventh, targets presently have little or no recourse if they are not being targeted as member of a protected class. Eigth, this struggle toward progress mirrow the struggles to stop sexual harassment. You vision is shallow at best.
Comment by Kwanijml on 29 July 2010:
Just like minimum wage laws tend to ‘kick out the lower rungs of the wealth ladder’ for the poor and minorities; so this will end up creating a disadvantage for those who have had to sue employers in the past (whether legitimately or not). Employers will now be so skiddish when hiring a new person that they will be forced to research any suits filed by the prospective employee against past employers. . . or perhaps any law-suits at all. The fact that a prospective employee has filed suit in the past for, say, an auto-accident related injustice. . .could now cause an employer to assume that that prospective employee will be more prone to using legal action against them. What a mess we’re in. . . what an absolutely blind society we live in.
Comment by Doug on 31 July 2010:
Or… maybe this will put pressure on all those that bully others, for whatever idiopathic psychological reasons, and force them to be more responsible in their treatment of others. Just like it’s unfair for a child to be terrorized at school it is also unfair for an employee to be verbally assualted and psychologically abused by a mean-spirited co-worker who is passing off their issues onto someone else.
Many of these entries seem to take the side of the bully which leads me to think that the readers of a site like this are comfortable with a bully’s mindset. Sometimes mean and often times indifferent…
Comment by steve on 20 August 2010:
New York CWA Local Dissenters Victimized by Union Terror; File Complaint
Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Fri, 05/28/2010 – 16:58
Email to friendPrinter-friendlyAnyone who believes labor unions have forsaken menace as a tool to be used against internal dissent hasn’t hung around Communications Workers of America Local 1101 lately. A civil complaint filed in Brooklyn, N.Y. federal court against the Staten Island-based union this past February provides apparently damning evidence that the labor organization is run by thugs and thieves. Salvatore DiStefano and Sebastian Taravella, union members and longtime heavy equipment operators for Verizon, allege they were continuously subject to harassment and violence after reporting an illegal union time-padding scheme to the Verizon security team. The pair is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
According to the complaint, DiStefano, an employee of Verizon’s Staten Island Garage, in the summer of 2007 was in the presence of a first-level union supervisor, Bob Rios, who told crew members that if they performed three “fiber to premises” jobs in a given day, they could falsely put in for a full day’s pay regardless of how early they finished. DiStefano openly refused to participate in this scam. He then voiced his disapproval to fellow union members. Taravella, also a garage employee, expressed the same view. In May 2008, the pair went to Verizon’s corporate security staff, informing them of the scheme. Corporate security, however, did not keep the resulting report confidential. Big mistake.
Outsiders might have seen DiStefano and Taravella as whistle-blowers; CWA Local 1101 saw them as rats. The union hierarchy proceeded to subject the pair to unrelenting abuse. Bosses brought them up on phony charges of “harassment” and “discrimination” against fellow members. As punishment, during or about November 2008 DiStefano and Taravella were terminated from employment at the Staten Island Garage and relocated to other garages, demoted in rank, and given “final warnings.” When the pair complained to union officials Pat Lascala and Richard Meltz, they allegedly were told, “You guys did it to yourself.” In March 2009, shop steward Manny Rincon allegedly put a dead rat in Taravella’s locker. A month later, union member Chris Tremble called DiStefano a “rat” while hitting his face and head, and leaving him with two herniated disks. DiStefano complained about the incident to union officials, who promptly accused him of “starting a fight.” DiStefano eventually was terminated in July 2009. In October 2009, a union member, Joe Sedita, threatened Taravella with death for allegedly getting a fellow employee fired. All the abuse took its toll. Taravella and DiStefano since have been undergoing counseling.
Union officials not only took no action against acts of wrongdoing, they openly encouraged them. In November 2008, the aforementioned Richard Meltz allegedly told members to “do whatever you want with those two guys.” And at an August 2009 garage meeting, two local vice presidents, Joe Macaleer and Mike Luzzi, told rank and file that Verizon was “having a lot of problems right now ‘due to a couple of troublemakers’” and that “We have to learn that we can’t call corporate security because we don’t want those people getting involved in our business.” Macaleer allegedly stated: “I don’t want nobody in this room to call corporate security any more. [And] I don’t care if somebody come to work with a gun saying they’re going to shoot people, you don’t say anything…we have a lot of problems here due to the fact there are ‘spies in the room.’” He then added, looking directly at the plaintiffs, “You know who you are.” Finally, the complaint alleges that Macaleer told members, “(W)e have to deal with these spies on a personal level, like take them outside of the yard, off the company property and off company time and take care of them, because we can’t be ratting each other out.”
These allegations carry more than a ring of truth. It is the nature of any racket to protect participants by creating a wall of silence and exacting vengeance upon those in their ranks violating it. Some 40 years ago New York City cops operated in this manner, inadvertently supplying the raw material for such movies as “Serpico” and “American Gangster.” All evidence strongly suggests that Communications Workers Local 1101 leaders operated an illegal featherbedding ring. That one or more Verizon employees may have taken part can’t be ruled out either. DiStefano and Taravella’s only crime was standing tall in the face of corruption and intimidation. Their lawsuit hopefully will yield a measure of justice for themselves and integrity for unions everywhere.
Comment by Jane Martin on 16 October 2010:
Suffice to say, bullies don’t stop being bullies–even when you have moved on. As someone who has fought (and resolved) workplace issues, I have some very good resources: http://www.badreferences.com; workrights.org; and whistleblower.org. Otherwise, you will hop from one interview to another–not realizing your ex-boss is trashing you to potential employers.
Comment by being bullied on 25 February 2011:
please I pray to God this law is passed in NYS Civil Service
There is so much Bullying going on. It is not enough to come to work and do your Job. You must join gangs of law Morals and if you choose not to fratranize with the these people they try to force you to quit by bullying you in every, and I mean every possible way known to man. This includes textbook bullying and also resorting to Urban Street type bullying. I will keep this short because to type this is very traumatic for me. Please know that bullying exists in NYS Civil Service. Someone please help us who just want and need our jobs.
Comment by being bullied on 25 February 2011:
Please note my correction to my second sentene
correction: ” Gangs of LOW Morals” not law
thank you
Comment by being bullied on 25 February 2011:
The wall of silence exists…..Supervisors and their Managers and their subordinates who fratranize together will lie for each other, and i mean blatant lies that will blow your mind
Comment by Tracy on 29 December 2011:
I pray this goes through, especially for hospital workers. I personally work in a dominatly spanish office, where i am a minority and there’s always a comment or the language changes when you are around them. I was actually spoken down to the other day by a woman who’s use of the English language is so bad, it took me a few minutes to figure out what she said, Please pass this bill!
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