An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 7 - Recognizing And Preventing Harassment, Discrimination And Retaliation

harassment because the perpetrator’s motivations are not always clear. Therefore, to protect against costly investigations, administrative review, litigation, and the negative impact bullying has on a school’s work environment, an employer would be well served to make all reasonable efforts to eradicate bullying behavior in the workplace.

4. E XAMPLE O F B ULLYING /A BUSIVE C ONDUCT Bullying and abusive conduct can take many forms. Examples include:  Repeated swearing or shouting;  Repeated derogatory remarks, insults or epithets;  Exclusion or social isolation;  Humiliation;

 Any form of physical threat or physical intimidation;  Demeaning comments about a person’s appearance;  The use of patronizing titles or nicknames;  Persistent, unwelcome teasing;  Gratuitous sabotaging or undermining a person’s work performance;  Spreading malicious rumors; and  Picking on someone or setting him or her up to fail.

5. H OW B ULLYING /A BUSIVE C ONDUCT I MPACTS T HE W ORKPLACE Bullying and abusive conduct extracts a significant toll within an organization. These behaviors can lead to increased levels of stress among employees, high rates of absenteeism and increased turnover. Because supervisor-bullies can get results by getting more short-term production out of employees motivated by fear, they are often tolerated. However, employers should understand the long-term costs to these potential short-term benefits in productivity. Studies have shown that bullying has a long-term impact on staff performances, costs in excess of $200 billion per year and results in psychological and physical ailments similar to those found in soldiers returning from combat. Workers’ compensation and lost productivity are impacted by the employee’s stress, depression and physical health problems and these problems result in time away from work. Health problems experienced by victims of bullying can result in a sense of helplessness and negative emotional states. Low self-esteem and a negative organizational climate negatively impact creativity and employees’ abilities to respond to difficult situations or challenging goals. The breakdown of trust in a bullying environment may result in employees not performing at their maximum capacity, resulting in a less effective employee and a diminished contribution to the educational program and the school community in general. In addition to the costs of supervisor-bullying, bullying behavior perpetrated by a co-worker and ignored by management also has significant negative consequences and impacts productivity, morale and leads to increased workplace injuries and “stress” claims.

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