'Change law to make bullying bosses pay'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Bullying bosses who terrorise colleagues should be forced to pay substantial compensation, according to a leading employment pressure group.
The Work Foundation – formerly the Industrial Society – is calling this week for a change in the employment laws to make bullying in the workplace an offence.
It will insist that bullying laws should be brought into line with legal protection against sex discrimination and harassment, complete with the financial penalties for the perpetrators.
In a presentation at the House of Lords, timed to coincide with the introduction of a backbench Dignity at Work Bill, Angela Ishmael from the Work Foundation will tell peers that 15 per cent of professionals, 11 per cent of skilled workers and 9 per cent of unskilled workers are bullied at work.
In 84 per cent of the cases, the perpetrator has bullied staff before and while management knew of the problem in three out of four instances they did nothing about it.
Research also shows that the problem, which leads to stress, sickness and in the most extreme cases suicide, is costing business between £5bn and £12bn a year. And even that figure is believed to be much higher when the cost of recruiting and retraining to fill the posts of victims as well as funding legal action and tribunals is taken into account.
"What we are trying to do is get an amendment to the employment laws to outlaw bullying and make it an offence," Ms Ishmael said. "We have been campaigning in this area for years but have made very little headway in persuading employers in particular that bullying is an issue they must take seriously."
The group is convinced that enshrining the anti-bullying message in the law is now the only option.
"Bullies actually drive people to suicide. That might sound extreme but it does happen. Getting organisations to understand that the power they give to people should never be abused is crucial."
As part of the proposed legislative change, the Work Foundation is calling for all employers to be forced to draw up proper guidelines for behaviour and structures to deal with complaints. They insist that people should be given strong legal protection but where bullying allegations do arise they must be dealt with quickly so the problem is not allowed to fester.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments