Yahoo asked, "Should you be able to sue your boss for workplace bullying?"

Think of workplace bullying as the underlying foundation of all the other behaviors we discourage at work...sexual harassment, verbal abuse, physical abuse, prejudice...it's all about one person or group exercising unreasonable power over another. We've created laws to deal with the symptoms...now it's time to address the core issue, workplace bullying.

It's time to compel employers to put policies and procedures in place to correct and prevent workplace bullying. In most cases, once reported, if the bully is told to "knock it off", they will reign themselves in. If the bully refuses to stop their behavior, they will become responsible for their actions, not the employer.

Without being compelled by law, employers have no legal recourse to stop the bully. Employers need this law as much as the employees do. Without a law to prevent it, the HR Dept. can easily become complicit in the bullying, with or without their intention to do so. It's time...time to do the right thing. We're never too old to apply the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"...remember that one? I think we learned it in Kindergarten. It's time to apply what we learned in school to the workplace. After all, without intervention, where do we think schoolyard bullies go when they grow up?

Source(s):

www.bullyfreeworkplace.org
www.workplacebullying.org
http://newworkplace.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/why-the-healthy-workplace-bill-is-hr-friendly/