State legislature's Labor Committee considering:

Workplace 'bullying' proposal creates new charge, new costs, new litigation

(March 4, 2008) A bill creating a new workplace harassment category for “bullying” and opening Connecticut employers to significant new costs and disruptions to their operations is soon to be voted on by the Labor Committee.

Senate Bill 60 broadly defines “bullying” in the workplace to include any behavior or conduct an employee might find offensive, humiliating, threatening or intimidating. It sets a tremendously subjective standard that would present employers with the constant threat of frivolous complaints.

This type of complaint would go straight from the workplace into the court system, costing employers and employees alike — but benefitting trial attorneys.

The proposal establishes no monetary limits on an employer’s potential liability and would mean employers could incur greate expense fending off false or frivolous claims.

What’s more, companies would be vulnerable to litigation from alleged victims (due to perceived failure to prevent such misconduct) as well as from alleged “bullies” (because of discipline and possible discharge). In either instance, employers would be held liable with no clear guidance or standard of proof to rely on.

What makes someone a bully?
Policing employee behavior of this type in the workplace would be extremely difficult for many employers. Although most employers have well-defined policies and protocols for workplace safety and employee conduct, determining when behavior constitutes “bullying” under this legislation would prove impracticable. The lack of clear guidelines means an employer would be required to establish policies addressing an ambiguous behavior.

Minimum wage hike
The committee approved HB-5105, which increases the minimum wage to $8 per hour from the current $7.65 per hour, which took effect last year. Under state law, Connecticut’s minimum wage — the sixth-highest in the U.S. — is already indexed to stay above the federal minimum wage.

Increases in the minimum wage have not been shown to improve people’s living standard as much as pro-jobs strategies.

For more information, contact CBIA’s Kia Murrell at 860-244-1931 or kia.murrell@cbia.com.