Attacking a Bullying Victim, Again: Phoebe Prince
July 22, 2010
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 about this, where you can find a link to the article in Slate if you care to read it. I can’t stomach linking to the Slate article directly from this site: http://tinyurl.com/2etm79v
How would you feel in the shoes of Phoebe’s parents, watching the lawyer for one of Phoebe’s tormentors smear your deceased daughter? It’s the kind of thing that could make a pacifist like me go postal. (No disrespect to mail carriers).
Age Discrimination Among the Unemployed, and Movement on a Workplace Harassment Bill
April 9, 2010
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 a slippery slope” of litigating every kind of incivility in all aspects of life (think suing a rude customer service representative). So as of right now, the bill has not passed through the Illinois House of Representatives, and appears to be stalled.
Of the thousands of unemployed people in the U.S., nearly 25% of them have been without a job for a year or more. A year or MORE!
A summarizing article states:
“[T]his trend cuts across nearly every industry and occupation, and affects people of all ages and educational backgrounds. The existence of such a large pool of people – 3.4 million – who have been out of work for so long has had a significant impact on the federal budget.
“The number of Americans who have been out of work for a year or longer is roughly equal to the population of Connecticut,” said Ingrid Schroeder, project director of the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative…”
You can read the full article HERE.
Unemployed People over 50 Stay Unemployed Longer
You may have noticed before that when a research think tank like Pew issues a report, a number of journalist “write stories” that summarize different aspects of data from the report (mixed in with a quote or two). Here’s another such story based on the same Pew report, but this one focuses age discrimination.
People over 50, Pew researchers found, are less likely to be unemployed than younger workers, but people over 50 who DO lose their jobs are much less likely than younger workers to find a new job. One example is 59 year old Tom Bedar, who has not been able to find a job since February of 2008. As a former company president, he’s qualified. But that’s not what hiring managers focus on when interviewing Mr. Bedar. Instead…
…he started running into hiring managers and recruiters telling him why they wouldn’t hire him: He was overqualified; he would try to become the boss; he wouldn’t want the job for which he had applied; he would bolt at the first opportunity; the company wanted a younger person whom it could train; the hiring managers knew of unemployed people with skills in their particular industry and wanted their depth of expertise. And in one instance, he was told he would cost more in insurance expenses than a 30-year-old
The full article is HERE.
From the Horse’s Mouth
The data report from Pew underlying both of these articles — if you don’t quite trust journalists either — is HERE.
Friday Links
For everyone who lives under a rock and didn’t know that the U.S. now has another opening on the U.S. Supreme Court, you can learn about it here.
For an interesting list of employment lawsuit settlements, click HERE (Beware, this list appears to have cherry picked all the huge settlements and verdicts, leaving off small ones).
Finally if you haven’t heard about dailybunny.org, well, now you have!
Steps Toward Workplace Civility Law & Could You Qualify for Disability Benefits?
January 25, 2010
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 [Read more]
Is This Retaliation or Discrimination? Q & A with Derek D.
January 18, 2010
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 [Read more]
To Your Resounding Success in 2010
January 8, 2010
After receiving a huge response to the following email, I decided to share it with everyone here on the site as well.Yes, I know about the “bigger problems” these people are referring to. I know about the global warming and the slave trade and the earthquakes and tsunamis and Osama Bin Laden. I know about cancer and birth defects and the bloody 20th century and the pollution in China and the prostitution rings in Bangkok. [Read more]
Episode #13: How to Never Give Up and Never Be Alone. An Interview with Our Forum Den Mother, Lulu
December 15, 2009
Episode 13 features an interview with our forum Den Mother and bully boss fighter, Lulu. Lulu joined our forum feeling alone and confused about how her long, stellar career could start crumbling when a much younger manager took over the department where Lulu worked. [Read more]
Bully Boss Survivor Marilyn Veincentotzs and the new Undercover H.R. Director (OnYourSide!)
November 30, 2009
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A Survivor’s Story: Marilyn Veincentotzs
Episode 12 features an interview with Bully Boss survivor turned author Marilyn Veincentotzs. Marilyn, who also goes by “Dr. Vee”, learned from “Work Laws Exposed” how to fight back against a bullying boss. Then she helped a good friend do the same thing. Then she took her expertise in organizational psychology and wrote a book, “How Organizations Empower Bully Bosses: A criminal in the workplace.”
Personal Help With YOUR Work Problems
In Episode 12 we also introduce a fantastic new resource for people who need help with responding to a bullying boss: The Undercover HR Person! That’s right, our forum stalwart and HR expert, “OnYourSide”, is actually named Mary, and Mary is now available to help you with workplace issues too. If you want help composing a letter to your boss, filing out a complaint form, preparing a timeline to use when meeting with HR, or completeing FMLA forms — then Mary is the perfect resource for you.
Hire Mary to Help You
Would you like help crafting a professional response to your boss, your HR Dept, or preparing a submission to the EEOC? You can hire Mary by contacting her at this address: mary@undercoverlawyer.com. Her rate is $50 per hour, and there is a 1 hr minimum. You won’t find more professional, personal help anywhere else at a rate like this. But her time is limited, so if you think you might need her help contact her soon before the limited spots are gone. mary@undercoverlawyer.com
Quick Tip Contact Info:You may be closer to qualifying for social security disability than you think. You owe it to yourself to find out just how close you are: www.DisabilityDigest.com
Want to know Marilyn’s complete story? Buy her book right here!
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Do You Know the 4 Key Steps to Taking Back Your Life from a Bully?
September 20, 2009
Question: What are the four key steps to taking back your life from a bully?
Answer: Listen to our interview with psychotherapist Dr. Ben Leichtling (pronounced Like-Ling). Dr. Leichtling wrote a book about how to take back your life from a bully, and consults with companies on how to eliminate bullying from the workplace.
Dr. Leichtling reveals in this interview his four key steps to breaking free of a bully. He also gives invaluable advice on how to deal with the mental and physical trauma that bullies inflict. This is one episode no one should miss.
Podcast #11: Interview With Dr. Leichtling
Dr. Leichtling was so generous with his time that we couldn’t fit all of his helpful insights and ideas into the podcast, but it was simply too good “to leave on the cutting room floor”.
So even more of this interview is available on the Members-Only Forum, which is just $1 for the first month (and no further obligation). You can join the Member Forum here: http://www.undercoverlawyer.com/academy/member_forum.html
The Quick Tip is a site where you can rate your boss, and check to see if your potential new boss has been rated by his or her employees. The site is: http://www.ebosswatch.com/
Find even more helpful info from Dr. Leichtling at his site: http://www.bulliesbegone.com/
Let us know your thoughts on the interview, and what physical and mental effects, if any, you have felt as a result of a bully in your workplace.
-Curt
P.S. The link for getting access to the full interview with Dr. Leichtling (for just $1) is here: http://undercoverlawyer.com/amember/signup.php
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Podcast #10: Bully Boss Creates Hostile Work Environment by Forbidding Bathroom Breaks!
August 12, 2009
Don’t Have iTunes on Your Computer? Free Download from Apple w/ easy install instructions.
Main Segment
In the Main Segment of Episode #10 we tackle the issue of “Bully Bosses Who Forbid Bathroom Breaks.” This craziness happens much more frequently than you may think. Can you guess who the primary victims are?
#1 Spanish radio station in Miami
The radio show I mention during the show is 98.3. My thanks to Frank, the Undercover Lawyer community member from Miami who got the book and called in to 98.3 to talk about it. Thanks Frank!
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When Your Bully Boss is Behind Closed Doors, Do You Want to Know What the Lawyers Are Telling Him?
July 21, 2009
In Episode #9 the Undercover Lawyer (Curt K.) reveals 10 things that bosses do to their employees that cause hostile work environment lawsuits. (Podcast Player below). Even defense lawyers get mad at bad bosses, because bad bosses cause lawsuits. This is explosive information that big business pays top dollar for; Curt himself regularly charges companies $1,000+ for “How Not to Get Sued” seminars that cover this same material! But now you get it for free, plus Curt’s explanation of how employees can use this information for their advantage.
In the Quick Tip Curt covers how the new Federal Bailout Program includes money that you get right now if you’ve lost your job. It’s the COBRA subsidy, which requires your employer to pay 65% of COBRA premiums, so that you pay only 35% of the premium to maintain health benefits after leaving a job. Before this you would had to have paid 100%. You can get more info here: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.HTML
JOIN THE RESISTANCE!
And the most exciting news, the Members Only Private Forum of the Undercover Lawyer Academy is now available for only $1 for the first month (and $14.97 per month thereafter).� This is a giant discount from the usual $47 per month that will go into effect in about 30 days.� But if you sign up now, you lock in the $14.97 price for life (even after the full Employment Law Academy opens with tons of powerful new content).
You can take advantage of limited time $1 offer by clicking here: http://undercoverlawyer.com/amember/signup.php
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