Bullies at the workplace -- Ascending Light

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Date Posted: 14:51:12 01/25/05 Tue
Author: Weird_Enigma
Author Host/IP: 172.162.182.140
Subject: Bullies at the workplace

Bullies at the workplace

Too many employees endure psychological violence on the job

ANNETTE DUNLAP
Special to the Observer

The N.C. Board of Education implemented a policy for anti-harassment, bullying and discrimination on July 1, 2004. The policy requires every local school district to develop and maintain appropriate procedures "to prevent, intervene, investigate, document and report all acts of harassment, bullying or discrimination no later than January 2005." The policy is for students only.

But bullying is not restricted to student-to-student interaction. If my experiences -- and those of a number of people who have identified with my experiences -- are any indication, teacher-to-teacher bullying is very present within the public schools.

The bullying and harassment that I experienced as a lateral-entry teacher took several forms. I was excluded from team meetings, where decisions that affected all of us were made. I did not participate in the development of disciplinary procedures for our team, but I was expected to enforce them, even when I thought the rules were overly harsh and created unnecessary tension between students and teachers. My ideas were routinely criticized and discounted as unworkable.

The one incident that stands out most vividly is having a teacher walk into my classroom and scream false accusations in my face.

After only four months, my health had deteriorated so badly that I resigned.

According to Dr. Gary Namie, who heads the Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute, based in Bellingham, Wash., these experiences describe classic bullying. He defines bullying as "psychological violence" that involves "the repeated, health-endangering mistreatment of a person by a cruel perpetrator." Tactics often include constant criticism and put-downs, excluding the victim from meetings or important information, and yelling or screaming.

"To thrive," Namie writes in his book "The Bully at Work," "bullies require secrecy, shame and silent witnesses."

Once a bully selects a target victim, often it is only the two parties who witness the behaviors. This makes it difficult for a victim to find support from coworkers and managers. These same people may be subtle supporters of the bully's behavior, using the bully to achieve their own purposes, or fearful that if they take a stand against the bully, they, too, will fall victim to his or her tactics.

Legally, bullying is considered a form of harassment. Employees are protected from it, as from sexual harassment and racial discrimination, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. However, under the law, the harassment must be reported within six months of the occurrence for legal action to be taken. The psychological trauma of bullying often leaves the victim incapable of filing a complaint within that limited time frame.

The insidious nature of bullying and its effects usually go unreported or underreported. The individual who complains of depression or stomach ulcers, or who develops high blood pressure or a heart condition, generally does not tell the physician the details of what is occurring in the workplace.

Furthermore, physicians do not think to ask about work environments. If they do, they typically prescribe medication to ameliorate the person's symptoms, rather than recommend a job change.

Dr. Joel Neuman, a professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, reports that it is difficult to capture the real cost of bullying in the workplace.

Some measurements, such as stress-related illnesses, workplace violence or subtle forms of aggression, do not necessarily point directly back to bullying as a workplace issue. Nevertheless, one can intuitively assume that otherwise unexplained high turnover rates, absenteeism and levels of employee dissatisfaction may indeed be tied, to some extent, to workplace bullying.

One surprise was the number of teachers who nodded their heads when I shared the story of my treatment at the school where I had been employed. A family friend, whose wife has taught for more than 20 years, told me that his wife had been repeatedly subjected to similar treatment in schools where she had taught. Another friend attributes her breast cancer to the stress she experienced from bullying.

At issue for North Carolina is an average annual 22 percent teacher turnover rate that is not wholly accounted for by retirements. "If you look at the number of education graduates we're churning out relative to the number of retirements, we should have a teacher surplus," a member of the state board, who asked not to be named, told me. This board member is convinced that situations such as the one I encountered are more prevalent than reported.

The bully who screamed in my face is back in her classroom, the principal is in her office and two of the other three teachers on the team are still at this school. One year later, I am finally able to return to full-time work. The state board's anti-bullying policy needs to cover teachers, too.

Annette Dunlap

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Observer community columnist Annette Dunlap of Lakeview is a small business consultant and free-lance writer. Write her c/o The Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308, or at annette_d2002@yahoo.com.

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