Canadian Employment Law Today

4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Taking a stand against workplace bullies Fighting workplace bullying is more of a challenge — and more of a priority — with more ways for bullying to happen By LAUrA WiLLiAmS A CERTAIN DEGREE of bullying — whether in the form of racial taunts or stereotyping, physical violence, or sexual harassment — was once considered acceptable workplace behaviour, or at the very least went un- punished. Times have changed, and so has technology. Bullying and harassment have taken on a new dimension, stretching their reach beyond the the physical work- place in the form of cyberbullying. Bul- lied employees or even managers are now fi nding email and social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter have turned into easily accessible plat- forms for tormentors to continue their harassing ways. Worse, it's becoming more diffi cult for employers to contain the fallout from online attacks. Policing the day-to-day issues in the physical workplace is one thing, but managing all of the electronic communications disseminated by staff can be a nearly impossible task. e fact is cyberbully- ing usually comes to an organization's attention only after it's been going on for some time — if it does at all. In a 2012 case, the dismissal of a 30- year employee from Canada Post for cause was upheld given the employee's serious cyberbullying conduct, which included repeatedly making abusive, threatening and intimidating remarks about management on her Facebook page, some threatening physical harm. ese posts were found to have created a toxic work environment and prompt- ed managers directly involved to take time off work — one even sought medi- cal treatment for stress. is case was particularly egregious and subject to review by the employer because the employee's co-workers were Facebook "friends," she used the names of her su- pervisors in her posts, and she openly identifi ed Canada Post as her employer. Many employers are now taking workplace bullying and psychological harassment seriously, particularly given their obligations to protect employees from harassment and violence under health and safety legislation. However, regardless of employers' eff orts to main- tain a healthy and safe workplace, it is clear a great deal of work needs to be done to eradicate the infl uence of these counterproductive behaviours. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), bullying is "usually seen as acts or verbal comments that could 'mentally' hurt or isolate a person in the workplace … and can involve negative physical contact as well. Bullying usually involves repeated incidents or a pattern of behaviour that is intended to intimi- date, off end, degrade or humiliate a par- ticular person or group of people. It has also been described as the assertion of power through aggression." Types of bullying e CCOHS goes on to specify the vari- ous forms of workplace bullying or psy- chological harassment. ey include: • Spreading malicious rumours, gossip, or innuendo that is not true • Excluding or isolating someone socially • Intimidating a person • Undermining or deliberately impeding a person's work • Physically abusing or threatening abuse • Removing areas of responsibility without cause • Constantly changing work guidelines • Establishing impossible deadlines that will set up the individual to fail • Withholding necessary information or purposefully giving the wrong information • Making jokes that are 'obviously off en- sive' by spoken word or email • Intruding on a person's privacy by pes- tering, spying or stalking • Assigning unreasonable duties or work- load which is unfavourable to one person (in a way that creates unnecessary pres- sure) • Underwork — creating a feeling of use- lessness • Yelling or using profanity • Criticizing a person persistently or con- stantly • Belittling a person's opinions • Unwarranted (or undeserved) punish- ment • Blocking applications for training, leave or promotion • Tampering with a person's personal be- longings or work equipment Regardless of how it plays out, em- ployers are taking note of the impact of bullying and harassment for a num- ber of reasons. e fi rst is because it can disrupt workplace engagement, increase costs related to absenteeism, benefi ts and turnover, and damage an employer brand — typically defi ned as its ability to attract and retain top talent. In an increasingly knowledge-driven economy, being able to hire the best and brightest is crucial to an organization's success. Top performers often do their homework before joining an employer and if the organization's treatment of employees is considered substandard or their reputation for tolerating poor behaviour is well known, this could dis- courage prospective talent from joining an organization. Second, this misconduct can impact productivity and innovation. Employees CASe iN PoiNt: WORKPLACE BULLYING IF YOU are employed, manage or own a business or organization, chances are that you or someone you know has been bullied or psychologically harassed in the workplace. That's because 40 per cent of Canadians report being victimized by this sort of behaviour at some point during their careers, according to recent surveys. Consider that for a second: on any given day, four in 10 employees are being actively distracted from their work — or outright sabotaged in their ability to help their organizations succeed and grow — by one or more individuals who feel it's their right to create unpleasant and unwelcome intra-offi ce turmoil. This is a huge problem, one which the Canadian business community is only now beginning to understand, quantify and address. BACKGROUND

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