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 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!

50-State Resources For Employee Rights

50-State Resources for Filing Unemployment (scroll down to find your State’s Departments of Labor website)

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Guam* Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas

Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota

Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Departments of Labor for All 50 States

State	Name Address	State Labor Contact Numbers	Website Address
ALABAMA	Jim BennettCommissioner Alabama Department of Labor P.O. Box 303500 Montgomery, AL 36130-3500	(334) 242-3460	http://www.Alalabor.state.al.us/
ALASKA	Clark BishopCommissioner Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development P.O. Box 11149 Juneau, AK 99822-2249	(907) 465-2700	http://www.labor.state.AK.us/
ARIZONA	Brian C. DelfsDirector Arizona Industrial Commission 800 West Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85007	(602) 542-4515	http://www.ica.state.AZ.us/
ARKANSAS	James SalkeldDirector Department of Labor 10421 West Markham Little Rock, AR 72205	(501) 682-4500	www.Arkansas.gov/labor www.asklabor@Arkansas.gov
CALIFORNIA	Victoria BradshawDirector Labor and Workforce Development Agency 445 Golden Gate Ave., 10th FL San Francisco, CA 94102	(415) 703-5050	www.dir.CA.gov/dlse www.labor.CA.gov
COLORADO	Donald J. MaresExecutive Director Dept. of Labor and Employment 633 17th St., 2nd FL Denver, CO 80202-3660	(888) 390-7936	www.COworkforce.com
CONNECTICUT	Patricia H. MayfieldCommissioner Department of Labor 200 Folly Brook Blvd. Wethersfield, CT 06109-1114	(860) 263-6000	www.CT.gov/dol
DELAWARE	Thomas B. SharpSecretary of Labor 4425 N. Market St., 4th FL Wilmington, DE 19802	(302) 451-3423	www.Delawareworks.com/
District of Columbia	Ms. Summer SpencerDirector Employment Services Department 614 New York Ave., NE, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20002	(202) 671-1900	www.DOES.DC.gov
FLORIDA	Monesia T. BrownDirector Agency for Workforce Innovation The Caldwell Building 107 East Madison St. Suite 100 Tallahassee, Florida 32399-4120	(800) 342-3450	www.Floridajobs.org/
GEORGIA	Michael ThurmondCommissioner Department of Labor Sussex Place, Room 600 148 Andrew Young International Blvd., NE Atlanta, GA 30303	(404) 656-3011	commissioner@dol.state.GA.us www.dol.state.GA.us/
HAWAII	DirectorDept. of Labor & Industrial Relations 830 Punchbowl Street Honolulu, HI 96813	(808) 586-8842	wwwHawaii.gov/labor/
IDAHO	Robert B. MadsenDirector Department of Labor 317 W. Main St. Boise, ID 83735-0001	(208) 332-3579 (800) 843-3193	www.labor.Idaho.gov
ILLINOIS	Catherine M. ShannonDirector Department of Labor 160 N. LaSalle Street 13th Fl, Suite C-1300 Chicago, IL 60601	(312) 793-2800	www.state.IL.us/agency/idol
INDIANA	Lori TorresDept of Labor IndianaGovernmentCenter South 402 W. Washington Street Room W195 Indianapolis, IN46204	(317) 232-2655	www.IN.gov/labor
IOWA	David NeilLabor Commissioner Iowa Workforce Development 1000 East Grand Avenue Des Moines, IA 50319-0209	(515) 242-5870	www.Iowaworkforce.org/labor
KANSAS	Jim GarnerSecretary Department of Labor 401 S.W. Topeka Blvd. Topeka, KS 66603-3182	(785) 296-5000	www.dol.KS.gov
KENTUCKY	Philip AndersonCommissioner Department of Labor 1047 U.S. Hwy 127 South, Suite 4 Frankfort, KY 40601-4381	(502) 564-3070	http://www.labor.KY.gov/
LOUISIANA	John Warner SmithSecretary Department of Labor P.O. Box 94094 Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9094	(225) 342-3011	http://www.LAworks.net/
MAINE	Laura FortmanCommissioner Department of Labor 45 Commerce Street Augusta, ME 04330	(207) 623-7900	www.state.ME.us/labor
MARYLAND	Tom PerezSecretary Department of Labor and Industry 500 N. Calvert Street, Suite 401 Baltimore, MD 21202	(410) 767-2357	www.dllr.state.MD.us/
MASSACHUSETTS	Greg NoelSecretary Dept. of Labor & Work Force Dev. One Ashburton Place, Rm 2112 Boston, MA 02108	(617) 626-7100	www.Mass.gov/eolwd www.state.ma.us/
MICHIGAN	Keith CooleyDirector Dept. of Labor & Economic Growth P.O. Box 30004 Lansing, MI 48909	(517) 335-0400	www.Michigan.gov/cis
MINNESOTA	Steven A. SviggumCommissioner Dept of Labor and Industry 443 Lafayette Road North St. Paul, MN 55155	(651) 284-5070	www.doli.state.MN.us/
MISSISSIPPI	Tommye Dale FavreExecutive Director Dept of Employment Security P.O. Box 1699 Jackson, MS 39215-1699	(601) 321-6000	www.mdes.MS.gov/
MISSOURI	Todd SmithDirector Labor and Industrial Relations P.O. Box 599 3315 W. Truman Boulevard Jefferson City, MO 65102-0599	(573) 751-7500	www.dolir.MO.gov/lirc
MONTANA	Keith KellyCommissioner Dept of Labor and Industry P.O. Box 1728 Helena, MT 59624-1728	(406) 444-5600	www.dli.MT.gov/
NEBRASKA	Fernando Lecuona, IIICommissioner Department of Labor 550 South 16th Street Box 94600 Lincoln, NE 68509-4600	(402) 471-9000	www.Nebraskaworkforce.com/
NEVADA	Michael TanchekCommissioner Dept of Business and Industry 555 E. Washington Ave., Suite 4100 Las Vegas, NV 89101-1050	(702) 486-2650	www.laborcommissioner.com/ www.NV.gov
NEW HAMPSHIRE	George N. CopadisCommissioner Department of Labor State Office Park South 95 Pleasant Street Concord, NH 03301	(603) 271-3176	www.labor.state.NH.us/
NEW JERSEY	David SocolowCommissioner Department of Labor John Fitch Plaza 13th Floor, Suite D P.O. Box 110 Trenton, NJ 08625-0110	(609) 777-3200	http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/index.shtml
NEW MEXICO	Betty D. Sparrow Secretary Department of Labor P.O. Box 1928 401 Broadway, N.E. Albuquerque, NM 87103-1928	(505) 841-8450	www.dol.state.NM.us/
NEW YORK	M. Patricia SmithCommissioner Department of Labor State Office Bldg. # 12, W.A. Harriman Campus Albany, NY 12240	(518) 457-5519	www.labor.state.NY.us/
NORTH CAROLINA	Cherie K. BerryCommissioner Department of Labor 4 West Edenton Street Raleigh, NC 27601-1092	(919) 733-7166	http://www.nclabor.com/
NORTH DAKOTA	Lisa Fair McEversCommissioner Department of Labor State Capitol Building 600 East Boulevard, Dept 406 Bismark, ND 58505-0340	(701) 328-2660	http://www.nd.gov/labor/
OHIO	Kimberly A. ZurzDirector Department of Commerce 77 South High Street, 22nd Floor Columbus, OH 43215	(614) 644-2239	www.com.state.OH.us/
OKLAHOMA	Lloyd FieldsCommissioner Department of Labor 4001 N. Lincoln Blvd. Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5212	(405) 528-1500	www.state.OK.us/~okdol
OREGON	Dan GardnerCommissioner Bureau of Labor and Industries 800 NE Oregon St., #32 Portland, OR 97232	(971) 673-0761	www.Oregon.gov/boli
PENNSYLVANIA	Stephen M. SchmerinSecretary Dept. of Labor and Industry 1700 Labor and Industry Bldg 7th and Forster Streets Harrisburg, PA 17120	(717) 787-5279	www.dli.state.PA.us
RHODE ISLAND	Adelita S. OreficeDirector Department of Labor and Training 1511 Pontiac Avenue Cranston, RI 02920	(401) 462-8000	www.dlt.state.RI.us
SOUTH CAROLINA	Adrienne R. YoumansDirector Dept of Labor, Licensing & Regulations P.O. Box 11329 Columbia, SC 29211-1329	(803) 896-4300	www.llr.state.SC.us
SOUTH DAKOTA	Pamela S. RobertsSecretary Department of Labor 700 Governors Drive Pierre, SD 57501-2291	(605) 773-3682	www.state.SD.us
TENNESSEE	James G. NeeleyCommissioner Department of Labor & Workforce Development Andrew Johnson Tower 710 James Robertson Pkwy Nashville, TN 37243-0655	(615) 741-6642	www.state.TN.us/labor-wfd
TEXAS	Ronald CongletonLabor Commissioner Texas Workforce Commission 101 East 15th St. Austin, TX 78778	(512) 475-2670	www.twc.state.TX.us
UTAH	Sherrie HayashiCommissioner Utah Labor Commission P.O. Box 146610 Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6610	(801) 530-6800	Laborcommission.Utah.gov
VERMONT	Patricia Moulton PowdenCommissioner Department of Labor 5 Green Mountain Drive P.O. Box 488 Montpelier, VT 05601-0488	(802) 828-4000	www.labor.verMont.gov/
VIRGINIA	C. Ray DavenportCommissioner Dept. of Labor and Industry Powers-Taylor Building 13 S. 13th Street Richmond, VA 23219	(804) 371-2327	www.doli.Virginia.gov/
WASHINGTON	Judy SchurkeActing Director Dept. of Labor and Industries P.O. Box 44001 Olympia, WA 98504-4001	(360) 902-4200	www.lni.WA.gov/
WEST VIRGINIA	David MullensCommissioner Division of Labor State Capitol Complex Building #6, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. Charleston, WV 25305	(304) 558-7890	www.labor.state.WV.us/
WISCONSIN	Roberta GassmanSecretary Dept of Workforce Development 201 E. Washington Ave., #A400 P.O. Box 7946 Madison, WI 53707-7946	(608) 266-6861	www.dwd.state.WI.us/
WYOMING	Cynthia PomeroyDirector Department of Employment 1510 East Pershing Blvd. Cheyenne, WY 82002	(307) 777-7261	www.doe.state.WY.us/
GUAM	Maria S. ConnelleyDirector of Labor Department of Labor P.O. Box 9970 Tamuning, Guam 96931-9970	(671) 475-7043	www.Guamdol.net/
PUERTO RICO	Roman VelascoSecretary Dept of Labor and Human Resources Edificio Prudencio Rivera Martinez 505 Munoz Rivera Avenue G.P.O. Box 3088 Hato Rey, PR 00918	(787) 754-2100	www.dtrh.gobierno.PR/
VIRGIN ISLANDS	Albert Bryan, Jr.Commissioner Department of Labor 2203 Church Street St. Croix, U.S. VI 00802-4612	(340) 776-3700 St. Thomas (340) 692-9689 St. Croix	www.VIdol.gov/

New Legal Rights For Employees of Nursing Homes

If 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. Your boss gets mad and starts harassing you, and threatens to write you up for doing your job the way you have always done it. This is retaliation, and your boss at the long term care facility cannot legally retaliate against you for reporting the suspected crime, even if you were wrong.

The new anti-retaliation provision in the Health Care Reform Bill calls for fining bosses who retaliation up to $200,000 and/or suspending the facilities federal funding for up to two years (which would probably put a lot of facilities out of business).

Finally, all nursing homes must now have a standardized complaint form with a formal procedure in place to resolve complaints. Again, retaliation against anyone who fills out a complaint form is prohibited by law.

Whistleblower Protection for Nurses in Health Care Reform Bill

The “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 or her own employer, that the employee “reasonably believes” is a violation of the Title I section of the Bill, then that employee is a whistleblower — and thus part of a protected class.

So you are probably wondering what “Title I” prohibits… and what things you must report to be protected by this new law. Title I prohibits denying coverage based upon preexisting conditions, it includes policy and financial reporting requirements; and it prohibits treating patients differently based on whether they received health insurance subsidies. Put another way, the bill will protect employees who point out a broad range of infractions their employer is engaging in.

Similar to Title VII, this new bill’s whistleblower rules include a 180 day deadline, and a requirement to file first with an administrative agency (in this case OSHA). And also like Title VII claims there is an option to litigate against your employer before an administrative law judge, or, you can choose to remove the claim to federal court (like getting a “right to sue letter” from the EEOC) and litigate there in front of a jury. This new whistle blower protection allows for reinstatement to your job if you’ve been fired, the back pay you should have received, and attorney’s fees.

What you have to prove is that your whistleblowing was merely “a contributing factor” in your employer’s decision to fire you, demote you, transfer you, give you a bad appraisal or review, deny you a raise, etc.

So what is “a contributing factor,” you ask? It is “any factor which in any way affects the outcome of the decision” to deprive you of your job, a good appraisal , a raise, etc. So all you have to show is that your whistleblowing affected a bosses decision to give you a bad review, for instance — your whistle blowing does NOT have to be the only reason, or even the main reason, that your boss gave you a bad review.

After you prove that, then your employer has a chance to get off by proving “by clear and convincing evidence” that it would have done the exact same thing to you even if you had not blown the whistle. Unless you got caught stealing, this is pretty hard for an employer to prove.

Our next post, later this week, will further explain the new bill’s protections for employees at nursing homes, so be sure to check back.

And what do you think of this aspect of the new bill? If you are a nurse or in health care, have you ever seen patients treated differently because of what insurance they have or don’t have? Have you nurses out there been retaliated against in the past for pointing out policy violations where you work?
Healt Care Reform Bill Sections Protecting Whistleblowers

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 [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 [Read more]

To Your Resounding Success in 2010

Episode #13: How to Never Give Up and Never Be Alone. An Interview with Our Forum Den Mother, Lulu

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!)

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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?

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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