Workplace Bullying and Unfair Labor Practices
House Bill 2894 seeks to address bulling in the workplace. If passed, the Bill would provide employees with statutory remedies against their employer, if their employer (a) failed to have a policy prohibiting bulling and (b) failed to have effective policy enforcement. The Bill also permits employees to state a claim for constructive discharge, if their employer failed to adequately address bulling. In other words, the Bill would require employers exercise reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct “abusive conduct” or a “abusive work environment”. If they did not, the employer risked suit for constructive discharge and/or for permitting an abusive work environment (i.e. bullying).
Under the proposed legislation, abusive conduct means “conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests”. This could include “repeated infliction of verbal abuse such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets; verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating; or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance. A single act normally will not constitute abusive conduct, unless especially severe and egregious.”
The Bill defines abusive work environment to mean “a workplace where an employee is subjected to abusive conduct that is so severe that it causes physical or psychological harm to the employee.” It defines malice to mean, “… the desire to see another person suffer … without legitimate cause of justification. Malice may be inferred from the presence of facts such as outward expressions of hostility, harmful conduct, or … attempts to exploit the complainant’s known … vulnerability.”
As for the Bill’s treatment of constructive discharge, the proposed legislation defines constructive discharge as “abusive conduct: (i) Which causes the employee to resign; (ii) where, prior to resigning, the employee brings to the employer’s attention the existence of the abusive conduct; and (iii) which the employer fails to take reasonable steps to eliminate.”
House Bill 2894 was recently introduced and referred to the Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards. Time will tell if the Bill gets enough support to pass in its current or modified form. Even if House Bill 2894 fails to become law, the Bill is another example of the growing public concern for workplace bulling. Employers should remain vigilant and address workplace issues timely and effectively.
Brian A. Walker helps businesses and individuals in employment, business, and real estate related litigation and transactions from the Wenatchee office of Ogden Murphy Wallace PLLC. You can reach Brian at bwalker@omwlaw.com or at (509) 663-1954.
