Screw the Hierarchy

Re-define your life at the Re-Define Virtual Summit on Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18 from 10am-4pmET. Workplace abuse left you feeling angry, bitter, betrayed, and depressed. Find support and understanding in this two-day event so you can recover and live the life you deserve. The result: a life of purpose defined by you — and no one else. In this episode, I talk about day 1: navigating abuse at work and talk about the five sessions from our expert speakers. Learn more at http://www.redefineourselves.com.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

A group of first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs pulled back the curtain to show what's REALLY going on at the investment banking firm. And the way they did it went viral on social and garnered the attention of The New York Times. In this episode, I talk about the two sides of the debate on whether or not it's workplace abuse (we don't need to guess which side I'm on). I also touch on the common overlap of incompetence and abuse.

Read the analysts' presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jyeu-wvS3Z10xQ0BlMIDOkh_INoP_Nnb/view

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

Targets of workplace abuse report that their unions don't generally do to bat for them when it comes to going up against the abuse of power. But collective action is a key tool for targeted employees, and unions provide for that collective action. The PRO Act would give unions more power to help the employees they're designed to serve. In this episode, I talk about what the PRO Act will do if the Senate passes it and President Biden signs it.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

The COVID-19 vaccine will present challenges for employers: can they require employees to get vaccinated? If not, what happens when employees isolate an employee who isn't vaccinated? In this episode, I talk about what challenges some employees may face when remote employees head back into offices — and what employers should do about those challenges.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

Getting legislation passed can be a long haul. But the process doesn't have to be overwhelming, The National Workplace Bullying Coalition is forming state teams across the country to introduce the anti-abuse Dignity At Work Act. In this episode, I walk you through the process to introduce legislation. We have a fantastic team of state team directors who can help with the rest of the process monthly.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

The Dignity At Work Act is about granting our fundamental human right to dignity at work. Workplace abuse (or workplace bullying) often involves a person in power, such as a manager or supervisor, taking advantage of a less powerful employee.

What workplace abuse is

Abuse of power is too often a symptom of implicit bias — a problem discrimination law stopped helping since the 1980s when courts moved from focusing on impact to intent. Intent is a high threshold that makes the law mostly ineffective at addressing bias and disrupting hierarchies at work that create haves and have-nots when those in power “other” people. More than 50 years after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, white men still occupy the vast majority of power positions in the U.S. workforce.

Abuse may take the form of:

Interpersonal abuse like public ridicule, disrespect, overwork, and overcontrol, including put-downs, screaming, excessive criticism, destructive gossip, false accusations, and other intimidating behavior.

Organizational abuse like sabotage of your work, including impossible deadlines and workloads, micromanaging, removal of responsibilities without cause, purposeful inconsistent instructions, malicious schedule changing, withholding of information needed for your job, blowing off accomplishments, exclusion, taking credit for your work, invasion of your personal belongings, and giving bogus performance reviews to convince you you're a problem.

Why workplace abuse is a problem

The abuse often leads to severe damage for targets, witnesses, families, communities, organizations, and society, including loss of esteem, anxiety, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, psychosomatic illnesses, physical harm, PTSD, suicide ideation, economic losses, turnover, absenteeism, workplace violence, lost production, violence outside work, divorce, increased medical bills, and detachment from communities.

It costs employers billions of dollars annually.

One of the biggest problems with workplace abuse is public health care costs. Employers externalize health care costs when they ignore employee well-being internally. When abused targets leave unhealthy work environments, they become burdens of taxpayers. They’re frequently uninsured. When they get sick, they turn to ERs for care, where delivering primary care is not cost efficient. By the time they get there, their health has already deteriorated to a point where treatment expenses are far greater than earlier intervention would have been. This bill would incentivize employers to address employee well-being internally and not make it a public problem.

Numbers back up these problems. In his book Dying For A Paycheck (2018), Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer says, "...the United States experiences about fifty-nine thousand excess deaths and about $63 billion in incremental costs annually compared to what would be predicted given its per capita income level. Considering the total toll previously estimated (of about 120,000 excess deaths and $180 billion in costs), our analyses indicate that about half of the deaths and about a third of the incremental costs from workplace conditions appear to be potentially preventable if the United States were more similar to other advanced industrialized economies." (p. 59, 60).

Prevention is both less expensive and more effective than remediation.

What the Dignity At Work Act will do

If passed, the Dignity At Work Act would:

Provide a cause of action for employees who suffer from workplace bullying.

Hold employers accountable for abuse at work.

Eliminate the need for proof of intent that renders discrimination law ineffective at disrupting social hierarchies at work. (White men still retain the vast majority of power positions in the U.S. workforce more than 50 years after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Dignity At Work Act would strengthen protections for those who believe their mistreatment at work may be due to discrimination but can't prove it.)

Create an incentive for employers to actually prevent, detect, remedy, and eliminate workplace bullying rather than wait for severe damage to take action.

Protect low-wage workers who can't afford our pay-to-play legal system.

How this bill differs from related legislation

We can’t prove intent. We’ve learned from U.S. and international jurisprudence that it’s often impossible for targets to prove the bully’s intent, but the bullying still has negative impacts. Intent (general or specific) must not be one of the required elements for a claim of workplace bullying. Bullying scholars and legal practitioners both understand the difficulty of proving intent. As a result, intent is generally not included in the research definition of bullying and should not be included in the law. The Dignity At Work Act does not require targets of bullying to prove their bully’s intent.

Psychological and physical harm is only one aspect of damage. We’ve learned through U.S. harassment jurisprudence that targets should not have to suffer psychological or physical harm before they have a cognizable claim. As the EEOC has recently reiterated, we want to stop harassing behaviors as soon as possible. An effective bill must establish a standard of harm that mirrors the EEO laws that the hostile environment or the bullying itself is enough of a harm to have a cognizable claim. Just as the EEOC and the judicial system have recognized that a hostile environment caused by harassment based on a protected status is harmful to workers, the Dignity At Work Act recognizes the hostile environment created by bullying is also a harm that should have a legal remedy.

Legal action must be affordable to everyone. The majority of U.S. workers are unable to afford access to the pay-to-play legal system. An effective anti-bullying bill must account for this lack of access and provide access to remedies via a governmental agency. A governmental agency with enforcement and oversight of an anti-bullying law will be able to not only provide access to targets, but also provide regulations, enforcement guidance, and model policies for employers. Conflict resolution via a governmental agency will be more expeditious than litigation, prevent tying up already overburdened courts with additional litigation, and provide paths for mutually agreeable resolutions that will allow employers and employees to continue a productive working relationship. The Dignity At Work Act would assure targets several paths to remedies including access to a state agency with enforcement power and private litigation should targets choose that route.

Learn more at DignityAtWorkAct.org.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

RN Sheila Wilson started Stop Healthcare Violence (https://stophealthcareviolence.org/) to provide safer workplaces for nurses and other healthcare workers. In this episode, I talk with Sheila about this problem that affects far too many healthcare workers — and what we can do about it.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

Abuse at work can come in many forms:

Discrimination against independent contractors, volunteers, interns, fellows, and trainees

Retaliation against workers who share wage information

Employers interfering in union elections

Constructive discharge (pushing workers out)

Tying your healthcare to your job

Paying you a non-livable wage

Requiring you to stay silent when an employer pays you for their wrongdoings through a settlement

Not treating you like a human by granting you bereavement leave

Requiring you to waive your rights to accept the job

Paying you below the minimum wage just because you make tips

Giving you fewer than 14 days notice to work a shift, retaliating against you for requesting specific hours, requiring you to work back-to-back closing and opening shifts, and hiring new employees when you're looking for more hours available

Stealing wages

Not providing enough sick leave during COVID

Not paying for some portion of leave when needing to care for a family member

Verbal abuse, sabotage, and other forms of abuse of power that violate a worker's right to dignity

In this episode, I talk about proposed legislation across the country that deals with these issues. Passing these bills will advance workers' rights in a culture where workers are treated like means to stuff higher-ups pockets rather than humans.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

If you've been bullied at work, you know how subtle and hidden toxic behaviors can be. The 2019 film The Assistant (now on Hulu) accurately shows signs of a toxic work culture, including what it feels like to experience one. In this episode, I talk about five ways this film shows how abuse at work stays hidden.

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy

If you worked in Boston in the 1970s, you may have known that a group of women clerical workers mobilized for better pay, advancement opportunities, and an end to sexual harassment. After organizing, they eventually formed the organization 9to5, which still exists today in several U.S. cities and inspired the hit film 9 to 5 starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin. In this episode, I talk about what's still happening today and the lessons we can take from those inspiring women clerical workers of Boston, including the importance of forming unions.

Read more about the new film:

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/9to5-the-story-of-a-movement/

See the screening schedule:

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/indie-lens-pop-up/screening-schedule/?film=9to5-the-story-of-a-movement

If you've been abused at work related to your race, gender, disability, age, or other demographic and would like to share your story anonymously, email [email protected].

If you feel like you need more help, I have a free guide to recovery steps at dignitytogether.org/targets and a signup for daily boosts through your inbox at the same place.

Facebook: @HierarchyPodcast

Twitter: @ScrewHierarchy