Labor groups are working to extend the state’s anti-bullying laws from schools to the workplace. As part of a workplace health and safety lobbying day, labor groups are briefing lawmakers on a number of bills so they can potentially sponsor them.
The Healthy Workplace Bill provides workers who are victims of bullying the legal right to seek damages and encourages employers to prevent bullying. Advocates say over a third of American workers have experienced bullying in the workplace.
“This would put something in place for these employees to go to their management team and say hey, I think I’m being harassed and need some help and would allow them to keep going further,” said Elissa Cadillic, President of AFSCME Local 1526. “So if management continues to brush it under the rug, they would then have recourse under the state laws.”
According to a Workplace Bullying Institute survey, many employers who receive complaints about workplace bullying either ignore the problem or have no policies in places to address it.
Source: WWLP TV Boston : http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/politics/state_politics/bill-seeks-to-stop-workplace-bullying?goback=.gde_62650_member_205587535
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