Is Workplace Bullying Illegal?
We get this question a lot. An employee’s boss or coworker is bullying them and creating a totally toxic environment at work. Surely that’s illegal, right?
Sadly, the answer is generally, “No”.
It is not illegal for your boss or coworker to harass you unless it is done for an illegal reason. The law does not require that your boss or coworkers be nice, kind or fair. But such harassment might be illegal if the harassment is based on an illegal reason or motive. The key under the law to determining if harassment or bullying behavior is illegal is that its not the what, it’s the why.
Your employer may not treat you differently because of your age, sex, race, religion, national origin, or disability. An employer also may not allow an employee be harassed by a coworker or boss based on such an EEO category.
So, for example, say there is a workplace comprised of mostly men, with one lone female employee, she alleges that her manager abuses, belittles, and harasses her. Is that illegal? I have a classic lawyer answer for you: it depends.
IF the manager also treats all of the male employees the same way as he treats the female employee, then it probably is not illegal. We call this type of manager an equal-opportunity abuser. And, while this type of behavior is terrible, it is not illegal. Why? Because the harassment and bullying is not based on the female employee’s sex. The manager is just a jerk.
We get contacted every day by people suffering from managers who are rude and obnoxious and who harass, berate and bully employees. Sadly, this type of behavior does not equate to an actionable hostile work environment claim unless the harassment can be proven to be based on a protected EEO category, like sex, race, etc.
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