THIS IS A RESPONSE I TENDERED TO A LINKED IN GROUP MEMBER WHO TRIED TO SAY THAT THE US WAS SO FAR BEHIND IN TERMS OF ITS EFFORTS TO CONTROL WORKPLACE BULLYING IN THAT WE NEED MORE LEGISLATION (THE MISGUIDED NOTION OF MOST WORKPLACE BULLYING ADVOCATES). WE HAVE LEGISLATION!!! ITS NOT ABOUT LEGISLATION, BUT RATHER POLITICS (THE ESSENCE OF MY BOOK). ALL THE LEGISLATION IN THE WORLD WILL NEVER CHANGE THINGS IN A JUDICIAL SYSTEM GONE AWRY, ONE THAT FAVORS THE WEALTHY AND PROTECTS THE EMPLOYER. PLEASE READ...LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! In what way is the US so far behind? We have the hostile work environment theory under which one can proceed where he/she has experienced a pattern of unwanted/unwarranted behaviors so pervasive as to interfere with his/her job. This covers the whole gamut of inappropriate behaviors that would be considered bullying. So to that I say if its not broken, dont try to fix it and dont try to reinvent the wheel. I think what we do need, however, is a more inclusive system where there are no protected classes. Anyone should be able to take their gripe to court, not just certain, select people. I am of the mindset that workplace bullying has become an industry where the intentions are mostly good but sometimes misguided. By that, I mean that many folks look to regulate behavior, and sadly, that will never happen to where bullying is eliminated. They are spinning their wheels if they delude themselves into thinking this could be accomplished. Bad behavior starts at home and there is no way to regulate how humans are raised and most often how they treat others over the course of their lives. However, perhaps we can reduce bullying by making the stakes higher. And I do not believe that will come from anywhere but the employers themselves. Call me old fashioned, but I believe in a disciplinary system where those who behave badly get the boot. Period. Had this been the case when I was being mercilessly harassed to a near nervous breakdown, I would not have been subjected to a 19-year nightmare that raped me of my career and changed the course of my life forever. My employer should have picked these 3 scumbags up by their proverbial collars (or real ones...that would have been fine with me!) and threw them right the hell out. But no. That would have been the brave thing to do, the right thing to do. Instead, the organization chose to stand behind these lowlife beasts and pretend nothing ever happened (to protect themselves from liability). To your question, WHO should decided what bullying is? Why the bullied should, just as the harassed person does under the statutes now. You want to bring in an expert witness? Sure, go ahead. But you are possibly setting yourself up for failure with this method of proof. For every angle, there is an expert witness. They are a dime a dozen. Pay them, and they say whatever you want them to and every judge and most people know this. Hence, Id be careful there. Moreover, doctors and other professionals run from legal matters like the dickens. They do not want to be involved. They do not want to be deposed, they do not want to testify, they do not want to be put under any kind of scrutiny - especially today where we live in an over-the-top litigious society with a lawyer lurking in every crack and crevice of life, waiting to pounce on any doctor who so much as looks at his patient the wrong way. In closing, I will sum up my mini dissertation by stating exactly that which is the essence of my book: it is not so much a procedural process but rather a political one that drives the workplace harassment/bullying/abuse remedial/litigation process. I do not care what kind of case you have or who your experts are, most often it is a simple matter of political ideology will make or break the outcome. Ive have countless folks approach me who lost their cases or encountered obstacles for no other reason I could ascertain than politics. So while we say we are far behind, we must figure in that politics will always prevail no matter how advanced we think we might be or how far we think we have come.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 18:50:05 +0000
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