Paul PelletierProject management key note speaker, author, corporate lawyer, and executive| Paul Pelletier Consulting Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
As a lawyer and PMP, I often get asked questions about legal aspects of talent management. One topic that has recently surfaced is discriminatory harassment and how it is different from workplace bullying or disrespect.
Discriminatory Workplace Harassment has a legal foundation that is different from workplace bullying. It is much more narrow than dictionary or workplace policy defined harassment. While many employers have policies that prohibit workplace harassment, these are separate from and flow directly from the issue of discrimination.
Erica Pinsky’s book titled Road to Respect: Path to Profit is helpful. She notes: "Workplace harassment flows from human rights law…and is very specifically defined...Human rights law was structured in response to historical discrimination in our society." (pages 63 - 68).
In order for an individual to be deemed to be illegally harassing another at work, the victim must be able to prove that they were targeted for their race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, marital status, or sexual orientation.
It is a form of illegal discrimination and can be defined as “a type of discrimination and means engaging in a course of annoying comments or conduct that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome, that is tied to a prohibited ground of discrimination and that detrimentally affects the work environment or leads to adverse job-related consequences for the victim of harassment.” (Pinsky, page 66).
If you have questions about workplace discriminatory harassment, I may be able to direct you to how to get answers. Saving Changes...
very well defined. Without this explanation I would have thought they are the same. Saving Changes...
Paul PelletierProject management key note speaker, author, corporate lawyer, and executive| Paul Pelletier Consulting Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Thank you Suhail. You aren't alone in that assumption. There is a continuum of possible categorizations for bad workplace behaviour. It begins with basic rudeness. Rudeness may violate an organization's Respectful Workplace Policy, if one exists. It depends on what the policy says and how it defines such behavioural guidelines.
Next comes harassment - this is a more complex category and requires careful consideration. Harassment can be both a organizational (internal) issue and an external legal issue (particularly if it breaches existing criminal legislation). For example, sexual harassment may cross both lines.
Next comes discriminatory harassment, which I've just explained.
Bullying could fit into any of these categories - it depends on the nature of the behaviour, the genesis of the motivation and against whom it was directed. That is why this is often a challenging area for organizations to address. Saving Changes...
Thank you very much for the clarification. Now I understand Rudeness, Harassment and Discretionary Harassment. As I mentioned elsewhere, bullying is a trend which comes with shallow knowledge and the perception that you know all and others are inferior to you. A truly knowledgeable person would never be a bully. Saving Changes...
Paul PelletierProject management key note speaker, author, corporate lawyer, and executive| Paul Pelletier Consulting Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Thanks for the comments. Leadership isn't bullying - a servant leader wouldn't even consider such an approach. I agree with you. Saving Changes...
