Los Angeles Employment Lawyer

Defining Workplace Bullying

There is not a single definition of what constitutes workplace bullying. While this is true, a number of people have attempted to define it in a formal way. Some groups include harmful boss behavior and actions of mal-intent directed at employees as bullying.

The behaviors most frequently associated with bullying may be tied in with humiliation and hazing rites. They are also frequently parts of iterative programs or protocols that are said to be in the best interest of employee development and coaching. Other researchers separate behaviors into different patterns. These people label a subset of the general behaviors as bullying. They also explain that there are different ways to deal with poor behavior.

In many instances, workplace bullying involves an employee’s immediate supervisor, manager, or boss in conjunction with employees who are complicit in the act. Other workplace bulling is defined as involving only an employee’s immediate supervisor, manager, or boss.

Workplace bullying has been alternately described as “a combination of tactics in which numerous types of hostile communications and behavior are used” or as “repeated, health-harming mistreatment, verbal abuse, or conduct which is threatening, humiliating, intimidating, or sabotage that interferes with work or some combination of the three.”

Other researchers have expanded the definition. These definitions expand bullying to include “persistent verbal and nonverbal aggression at work.” This includes personal attacks, social ostracism, and a large number of other painful messages and hostile interactions.

Contact a Los Angeles Employment Lawyer

If you have been the victim of bullying at work, there may be legal options available. Contact Los Angeles employment lawyer Perry Smith at 1-800-356-2529 to schedule an initial consultation.