How Do I Know if Workplace Bullying is Illegal in my Workplace?
From the Project Management and Workplace Respect Blog
by Paul Pelletier
This blog is dedicated to raising awareness about workplace respect in relation to project management. Workplace disrespect is a worldwide problem that is exceedingly damaging to projects and business. Incivility negatively impacts project success and results in financial, human resources, productivity, risk management, and legal costs.
There are many things PMs and organizations can do to prevent and address workplace disrespect. This blog aims to help guide the way.
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This is a question that I often get asked and, like many legal questions, the critical factor to reply to this question is “it depends”. It depends most on where you live and whether there is anti-workplace bullying legislation in place.
In many countries, increased public awareness and research have paved the way for efforts to recognize workplace bullying as a workplace hazard for employees. In effect, the impacts of bullying are considered a risk to worker safety. Once legislators began to appreciate the mental and physical health impacts of bullying, they began to take action to create laws that make it illegal.
If you live in the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and some parts of Canada workplace bullying is likely illegal and both organizations that permit bullying and the bullies themselves face direct consequences if they are proven to have broken these laws. To date, 29 of the states in America have also passed the Healthy Workplace Bill that will have a dramatic impact on workplace bullying once each bill becomes law.
In order to determine if your country, province or state has made workplace bullying illegal, consult with a local human resources, legal or government expert. I'm also available to help at
https://www.paulpelletierconsulting.com
Posted on: August 14, 2015 05:34 PM |
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Comments (2)
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Jaycee Krüger
Director | Mhlegahlatini (Pty) Ltd
Heidelberg, Gauteng, South Africa
To me the problem with bullying is mostly because the victim is seldom protected by law, and difficult (and probably costly) to prove, even if so. That makes the relevance of legality much less in cases of bullying. This is probably the largest contributing factor to the perpetuation of bullying in all aspects of life. If it was easy to define (as required to be a law) it would be a much less practiced violation. It is too subtle and amoebic to prove, and that is why offenders often never get exposed. It is up to us all to root out this cancer, and we should not depend on the law too much.
Paul Pelletier
Project management key note speaker, author, corporate lawyer, and executive| Paul Pelletier Consulting
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Thanks Jaycee for your very perceptive comments. While the tide is certainly shifting towards creating laws that prohibit workplace bullying, there are still many challenges to overcome. However, I strongly believe that the more information people and organizations have about the deep impacts of bullying that reach far beyond the victims, the more likely we will see real movement to eradicating what is indeed "a cancer".
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