Attacking a Bullying Victim, Again: Phoebe Prince

A lawyer who is defending one of the bullies that drove high schooler Phoebe Prince to suicide just published an article in the online magazine Slate. The outrage comes from the slant of the article, which “reports” as objective news that Phoebe brought the bullying upon herself. She’s painted as being a “self-mutilating misfit bent on suicide.” The apparent purpose of the article is only too obvious to people who have been the victims of workplace bullying; the purportedly objective investigator makes the bully appear less awful by heaping blame on the victim. How many people have complained to HR of a “hostile work environment”, only to be called in to HR and disciplined for poor performance while nothing happens to the bully? This happens so often it’s sickening. But this attorney has taken this strategy to sickening new depths by attacking a dead teenager while the family members are still grieving. Here is a link to another article... more...

Insider H.R. Tips From SHRM, The Biggest H.R. Conference in the Country

Inaugural Article By Mary, the Undercover HR Director (“On Your Side” in the Forums”): I’ll be writing articles periodically when I have news to share with you or an opinion on current events.  I recently returned from The SHRM® 2010 Annual Conference and Exposition, held in beautiful San Diego, California. I thought you might like some insight into what those dastardly Human Resource folks are cooking up. I attended the Conference in my “day job” capacity as a Human Resources professional, and as your Undercover HR Director.  But first – a question: What do you call one hundred HR professionals on the bottom of San Diego Bay? A good start! No, wait – that’s lawyers. Lawyers on the bottom of San Diego Bay! (Apologies to Curt) A little background: SHRM® stands for Society for Human Resource Management, and it’s the world’s largest association of HR professionals, with over 250,000 members in more than 140 countries. There were over 11,000 attendees at... more...

Jury Awards $250 Million for Gender Discrimination and Hostile Work Environment

In the largest ever gender discrimination/hostile work environment verdict, a jury ordered the pharmaceutical company Novartis to pay a class of women $250 million in punitive damages, plus back pay, front pay, and attorney fees to be determined later. “A jury that found Novartis discriminated against women by paying them less than men, promoting fewer of them and allowing a hostile workplace awarded $250 million in punitive damages on Wednesday.” (Full article HERE). One district manager was said to have forced female employees to look at pornographic images, and even gone so far as to instruct women subordinates to sit on his lap. With another large class action pending against Wal-Mart that makes similar allegations of unequal pay, many are wondering if this is the start of a legal trend. Do you feel that you have not been paid fairly? If you want to learn how to frame the issue in terms of what’s legal or not legal, watch this video.  Read More →

Age Discrimination Among the Unemployed, and Movement on a Workplace Harassment Bill

Good News / Bad News The Illinois State Senate passed a version of the Namie’s anti-bullying bill. The bill was introduced by Illinois State Senator William Delgado, who said “Being in an abusive work environment is intolerable. This legislation will finally give workers some means of relief from the abuse they may be tolerating in their work environment.” At the time the Bill was introduced, it was written to apply to public and private employees, to make harassment from bosses and from co-workers illegal, and would have made managers and co-workers individually liable for bullying. The bill even went so far as to make it a criminal act for a manager to retaliate against an employee who complained about bullying. (Read more HERE). But you know how politics work. Business groups objected. Then there were cries that the bill “would open the floodgates” to employment lawsuits. Then false panic was spread about the bill being “the first step down... more...

Why You Should Not Give Up if the EEOC Turns Down Your Hostile Work Environment Claim

Schools Tackle Teacher-on-Teacher Bullying In the Workplace USA Today features an interesting article about how 41 states have anti-bullying statutes for students, but zero states have anti-bullying statutes that apply to the teachers or administrators. That’s starting to change, however, with two school districts — one in Iowa and one in California — for the first time ever explicitly prohibiting teacher to teacher bullying. This collateral bullying is a huge topic in itself. But what’s troubling to me is that the article does NOT specifically state that the new rules prohibit school administration from bullying teachers. It’s an otherwise interesting article, and you can read it HERE. When an EEOC Investigator Turns You Down, You Can Still Prevail I recently advised an Academy Member who I will call Brittney. Brittney contacted me in frustration because after filing an EEOC claim and waiting a long time, the investigator called and said the finding... more...

Desperate Housewife Sues Abusive Boss For Hostile Work Environment

She's Suing Her BossFormer “Desperate Housewives” star Nicollette Sheridan filed a lawsuit against the show’s producer, Marc Cherry. Sheridan’s suit accuses Cherry of “creating a hostile work environment on the set and behaving aggressively and abusively toward the cast and the writers.” She claims that her character was killed off in retaliation for resisting his abuse, and she seeks $20 million in compensation. Three Hostile Bosses Ordered to Pay $185,000 to Two Employees Who Fought Back In Georgia, the former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones and three other people were ordered to pay two former employees $185,000. The former employees alleges that Jones created a hostile work environment based on race within the County’s Parks and Recreation Department. The trial was closely watched because Jones is currently running for Congress, and was the first African American CEO of the County. In one deposition excerpt, a co-defendant (County Parks Director... more...

New Legal Rights For Employees of Nursing Homes

New Employee Rights for Nursing Home EmployeesIf you work for a nursing home, convalescent hospital, hospice care facility, or any other health care facility that accepts federal funds, the Health Care Reform bill gives YOU new legal rights, too. If you or any other employee reasonably suspects that a crime (like billing fraud) has taken place at your workplace, then you must report it to at least one law enforcement agency. What happens if you don’t? Up to $200,000 in fines. Evidently nursing home managers have been leery of reporting a resident who has abused or beaten another resident. Mangers don’t want the negative publicity, and don’t want law enforcement getting involved in what he nursing home views as “a medical issue”. So, if you are employed at nursing home you must report any action by a manager or resident that you believe is a crime. But what if you or a co-worker DO report something that you reasonably believed was a crime – but it turns out it wasn’t. ... more...

Whistleblower Protection for Nurses in Health Care Reform Bill

Protected from Whistle Blowing by New Health Care Reform BillThe “Health Care Reform Bill” that has been at the top of the news lately contains some good news for nurses, nursing home employees, and other health care workers who are suffering under a bullying boss or being harassed at work. Now this reform bill, which is actually named “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009,” does not outright prohibit bullies in the healthcare workplace. Although it would be a good idea to catch the U.S. up with the rest of the civilized world, we’re still a ways off from making it illegal to purposefully ruin another person’s career. But, this law can be a another tool that you can learn to use in your fight against an unfair supervisor. Specifically, the Bill gives whistleblower AND retaliation protection to health care workers! The “PPACA” also puts some muscle on the False Claims Act. If an employee reports anything, even to his... more...

Steps Toward Workplace Civility Law & Could You Qualify for Disability Benefits?

In Episode #14 of the Hostile Workplace Podcast we review two recent cases, both of which point toward the federal courts gradual expansion of discrimination law, inching closer to requiring civility in the workplace. Ingrid Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide (11th Cir., January 20, 2010) Indergard v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., (9th Cir., September 28, 2009) We also have a highly informative interview with Brian Therrien of Disability Digest. We’ve featured more…  Read More →

Is This Retaliation or Discrimination? Q & A with Derek D.

Academy Member and book buyer Derek D. and I have been talking about how his bullying boss has gone over the line and started to infringe on Derek’s employee rights.  Of course there is a long history, with the supervisor Trent taking a dislike to Derek back when Trent was himself a machine operator. After his promotion, Trent made comments that more…  Read More →