School Bullying Council

No one believes children should be bullied in school, no matter what the genesis of the bullying. But to think that somehow Congress could stop playground taunting, middle-school teasing, or insults leveled through social media is illogical. Yet Representatives Sheila Jackson Lee (D–TX) and Lamar Smith (R–TX) think they can do just that by expanding Juvenile Accountability Block Grants to include school bullying.

The proposal includes a “sense of Congress” provision that states “that the use of best practices in the effort to combat bullying should be encouraged.” It also establishes accountability-based programs designed to prevent bullying, including cyber bullying.

Interest in bullying prevention is not new. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights took up the topic last fall and recommended more federal intervention in bullying prevention. Several members of the commission dissented from the report’s recommendations, arguing that the federal government is an inappropriate vehicle for bullying prevention. “I do not believe that controlling unacceptable student behavior in schools is—as the cliché runs—rocket science,” said commission vice chair Abigail Thernstrom. She continued:

I have spent much time in both orderly and disorderly schools. In those that are well run and have a culture truly devoted to education, no student even thinks of harassing peers or teachers—the latter often being a serious problem. The inmates do not run the asylum where there are clear messages about who is in charge, and about acceptable and unacceptable behavior. In orderly, disciplined schools, there is no running in the halls, fights between students, disrespectful language used in talking to other students or to teachers.…

School culture is something that only schools can set. Values cannot be imposed from above or outside. It is very difficult to see how the federal government can play a major role in stopping bullying in hundreds of thousands of schools across the land.

The Heritage Foundation’s Todd Gaziano, also a member of the commission, noted that some advocates of federal anti-bullying legislation claim it is necessary because state laws fail to prevent bullying:

If so, what makes them think more federal laws would work? For example, every state prohibits theft with severe penalties, but thefts still occur. Does that mean state theft laws are “not working?” Would a general federal theft law prevent them?

Teachers and principals are in the best position to establish discipline standards in their classrooms and schools, and they need more authority to do so. As federal intervention in education has grown, so too has congressional micro-management of schools. In order to give teachers and principals the authority to set discipline standards, that congressional overreach needs to be rolled back, and states should be allowed the flexibility to put education funding where it is most needed.

Federal policymakers should work to free states from the many regulations dictating how they spend education funding and allow states to put that money toward any lawful education purpose under state law. Proposals such as the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) Act do just that and would allow states to prioritize programs like bullying prevention if they deemed it a priority.

Better still, states could allow funding to become portable, following a child to any school of his or her parents’ choice, where they can be confident of the culture and values that will provide a positive learning environment. And school choice could very well be the best possible anti-bullying program.

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/10/an-anti-bullying-agenda-for-congress/

”Who is that man who’s staring at you so angrily?” asked a customer of Evelyn Lee in the department store where she was a sales associate.

It was her boss — the same one, she said, who criticized her within customers’ earshot on topics that didn’t earn lectures for other employees. He threatened to fire her, took away her hours and denied her the chance to earn more by opening sales accounts.

“It did suck the fun out of work,” said Lee, 61, of Rialto. “There were times it made me angry.”

Lee’s treatment is a case of workplace bullying, in the news lately following a Riverside County grand jury report on a division of the county’s human resources department.

The Bellingham, Wash.-based Workplace Bullying Institute defines workplace bullying as “repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons … by one or more perpetrators.” It includes verbal abuse, threatening conduct or sabotage that interferes with someone’s ability to work.

“It’s only a focus on the negative and it’s unjustified based on the performance,” said Gary Namie, a psychologist and the institute’s director. “It’s about this unearned, uninvited domination.”

According to the grand jury report, a group of recruiters in a county temp worker program were derisively referred to by their supervisors as “the wild, wild West” and singled out for harsh treatment, even though other county departments were satisfied with their work.

The report found workplace bullying was “pervasive” in the program and “caused fear and intimidation among employees.”

County officials are looking into the grand jury’s findings. They expect to issue a formal response by the end of July.

Not racist or sexist

Research into workplace bullying started in Scandinavia in the 1980s, Namie said. Australia, Sweden, Great Britain and France are among the countries with anti-workplace bullying laws, but to date, no U.S. state has one, according to the institute.

Workplace bullying is different in most cases from racial or sexual harassment, Namie said. Anti-discrimination laws apply only if the harasser and target are of different races or genders, he said, adding that right now, there’s no legal recourse for 80 percent of the workplace bullying taking place.

Often, workplace bullying targets are veteran workers whose skills and status make bullies feel threatened or jealous, Namie said. “People will slide into (the bully) role very easily” if it helps them get ahead, he said, adding higher-ups often ignore or encourage the bullying.

Spreading rumors, telling others to shun someone, closed-door berating sessions and using staff meetings to embarrass workers are forms of bullying, Namie said. Bullies can also deny access to training or technology that targets need to do their job, he said.

The grand jury report on county HR described documents that “showed disrespect to employees beyond what would be considered reasonable.” Employees who admitted inadvertent errors were “later reprimanded and accused of making the mistakes intentionally,” the report read.

1 in 3 bullied?

Thirty-five percent of adult Americans reported being bullied at work, according to institute-commissioned surveys conducted in 2007 and 2010. Seventy-two percent of bullies are bosses and bullies are more likely to be men and 64 percent of bullying is same-gender, the surveys found.

Victims of workplace bullying suffer from a range of physical and mental ailments, according to the institute. “(The stress) changes the brain,” Namie said. “People get sicker and sicker. Meanwhile they try to tough it out.”

Howard Golds, a partner in the labor and employment practice group of the Riverside firm Best Best Krieger, said “equal opportunity bullying” is a problem that’s often mistaken for discrimination.

“We see employers who are sued for discrimination and what’s really going on is you have a supervisor who doesn’t conduct themselves very well,” he said. “Oftentimes you have a situation, when the facts emerge, the person charged with discrimination treats everyone (badly).”

Jack Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of Stater Bros., one of the Inland region’s largest employers, said he’s not aware of workplace bullying among the supermarket chain’s 18,000 employees.

Managers and union shop stewards are at every store and Stater Bros. has a “very, very strong harassment policy,” Brown said. “We permit no use of unbecoming language between employees or certainly between supervision and employees.”

In an email, Tracy Silveria, spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents about 5,800 county workers, wrote her union “is very concerned about workplace bullying and has worked proactively to help members identify, report, and correct incidents of bullying.

“We welcome working with Riverside County human resources in addressing some of the issues that the recent grand jury report identified, and will continue to advocate for a positive work environment free of bullying behavior.”

Law needed?

Namie’s institute wants states to pass “healthy workplace bills” to crack down on workplace bullying. The bills would legally define an abusive workplace environment and allow abused employees to sue, provided they meet certain legal standards.

“It’s going to take a law to get these employers to do what they should be doing anyway,” Namie said.

Versions of the bill have been introduced in 21 states — California being the first in 2003, according to the institute. But so far, no state has passed healthy workplace legislation, Namie said.

Suzanne Lucas, a human resources professional who runs “Evil HR Lady,” a blog on HR topics, maintains workplace bullying legislation isn’t needed.

“Basically, legislation won’t stop the bullying and will be an added expense on businesses,” she wrote in an email. “The best thing to curb bullying is to have a robust job market. If you can get another job easily, you can just leave if bullying begins …”

“Additionally, definable (workplace bullying) is debatable and largely relies on the feelings of the victim. If there’s a good, legal bullying definition out there I’ve yet to see one.”

Lee lost her job at the department store after it went out of business.

“It was definitely easier to come into work on the days my boss wasn’t there,” she said.

Follow Jeff Horseman on Twitter: @JeffHorseman

http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-health-care-headlines/20120708-workplace-bullying-experts-say-protection-needed.ece