New Regulations For Workplace Psychological Abuse May Be On The Way

Psychological abuse in the workplace too often goes unnoticed, unmentioned, and/or unaddressed, but the Workplace Psychological Safety Act - which is model legislation that has seen action in 3 statehouses already - seems poised to become the new template across the country for how psychological abuse is reported, managed, and prevented at work.

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One recent survey indicated that nearly 7 out of 10 respondents had been bullied at work at some point in their career. The effects of this abuse were reported to range from depression and anxiety to loss of confidence and worsened health in general. 

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When these victims of bullying reported the abuse, however, nearly all claimed that despite raising the issue with HR, management, and/or state agencies, the vast majority found insufficient resolution to their issues and lost wages, incurred medical expenses, and/or left their jobs as a result. 

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While there are a number of current laws that address workplace harassment, including some that target bullying specifically, many only provide protections in cases where the abuse is linked to a protected characteristic, which can be difficult to prove and creates another hurdle to clear in seeking protection.

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The Workplace Psychological Safety Act, on the other hand, has no such requirement that ties the bullying to protected status. Even though a disproportionate amount of such abuse falls upon women, older workers, and people of color, for example, removing the need to show that the bullying was a result of bias clears the way for an easier path toward ending that behavior. 

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In addition to removing those barriers and sources of complaint-fling discouragement, the Act also enables victims of on-the-job psychological abuse to request internal investigations of said abuse by their employers and to circumvent red tape that can sometimes bog down investigations conducted by state agencies. Victims would also be able to sue employers directly under the Act. 

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That Workplace Psychological Safety Act places many additional responsibilities for the handling incidents of psychological abuse on management and company leadership, as well, with the Act requiring employers to promptly investigate complaints and implement policies aimed at combating abuse in addition to mandating the quarterly reporting of diversity metrics and abuse data, which will be made available via public search in an effort to increase transparency and incentivize compliance. 

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While the Act has yet to be enacted by any state legislature, the momentum is clearly building - having already cleared the Senate in Rhode Island - and with an anticipated imminent introduction in New York and much outward signaling of support inside the Massachusetts statehouse, as well. 

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Given the the organization behind this model legislation was founded only about a year ago, and given the support that has been established already since, it may be only a matter of time before a version of the Workplace Psychological Safety Act makes its way to your state. 

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And given how much more happy, healthy, and productive a workplace and workforce can be when not distracted by psychological abuse, it may be in almost all parties’ best interest to encourage that adoption of the Workplace Psychological Safety Act in their own states as soon as possible. 

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You can read more about this topic here.