NY Senate Passes Worker Abuse Bill

In a 2007 Zogby poll, 37% of American adults said they had been bullied at work by a boss and/or coworker. Workers who are abused based on their membership in a protected class — race, nationality or religion, among others — can sue under civil rights laws. But the law generally does not protect against plain old viciousness — but that may soon change.

Time reports that workers’ rights advocates, who have been campaigning for years to get states to enact laws against workplace bullying, in May scored their biggest victory. The New York state senate passed a bill that would let workers sue for physical, psychological or economic harm due to abusive treatment on the job.

If New York’s so-called Healthy Workplace Bill becomes law, workers who can prove they were subjected to hostile conduct, including verbal abuse, threats or work sabotage, could be awarded lost wages, medical expenses, compensation for emotional distress and punitive damages.

Understandably, many of the state’s employers are in strong opposition to the bill, arguing that it will lead to frivolous lawsuits and put them at risk. But supporters of the law point out that the bill is crafted to cover only the most offensive and deliberate abuse. The bill requires that wrongful conduct be done with “malice” and in most cases that it has to be repeated. It also provides affirmative defenses for companies that investigate promptly and address the problem in good faith.

The New York state assembly is expected to take up the bill next year. At least 16 other states are considering similar bills, leading some employment-law experts to believe that the anti-bullying legislation may begin to have real momentum across the U.S.