Dictator & Bully In Office

A friend recently described the unconscionable treatment he endured by new management at his organization. He described how, after over 20 years at this organization, his annual rating went from a high of 4 (exceeds) to a low of 2 (underperforming).

He described that daily he was told he was not fit to do the job, that he was replaceable and that he should resign. He was in the unique situation to have a contract, so the organization appeared to be tormenting him to resign because it knew it couldn’t fire him.

He asked me if he had any rights to sue the organization.

First, the incidents occurred about two years ago. Under federal law, and in Virginia, he has only had 300 days to file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, if he felt the behaviors towards him were due to discrimination or harassment based on race, age, gender, or other protected categories.

If he failed to meet that timeframe, he has a limited window to seek redress under federal law. Unfortunately for him, and so many others in the workplace, this scenario is too common. Even more difficult is the reality that he has limited rights of redress in the workplace, even if he met the limited statute of limitations.

My 54-year-old friend was subjected to workplace bullying. The new leadership made a decision it wanted to eliminate him. Instead of engaging in appropriate performance feedback, coaching and proper communication, management chose instead to be hostile and abusive by creating chaos and unrealistic expectations.

Organizations typically support the bullying behavior because the bully is getting results, and the bully leads management to believe that the target is the problem. There are no laws protecting against workplace bullying, so organizations don’t see the need to stop the bullying behaviors.

I often see human resources departments  conducting an investigation and concluding only that no Equal Employment Opportunity laws were violated, thereby enabling the behaviors to continue, since bullying is usually committed due to discrimination against a protected category.

What organizations fail to consider is their codes of conduct, which typically address this type of divisive, abusive and unprofessional conduct, to include yelling, public humiliation and verbal abuse, can and should be enforced in these situations.

It is also true, however, that employees sometimes confuse proper performance management as bullying.

A manager should be providing employees with expectations and holding them accountable for their performance and behaviors. Performance management converts to bullying when the expectations are unclear or unrealistic, and the performance management is designed to be abusive, not constructive.

Employers should not turn a blind eye to employees complaining about this type of behavior, even if it is against a high performing leader. Bullies are masters at managing up, and typically get the benefit of the doubt from leadership.

Bullies will have a target or multiple targets at all times, and usually forecast to management that the “target” is having issues or is not performing, while at the same time setting unrealistic expectations and holding the target to standards not expected of others, while micromanaging them. This might play out until the target quits or is terminated.

One employee told me during a recent investigation who was subjected to bullying that his manager set him up to fail - and he did fail. When an employee complains of misconduct against her or his supervisor, employers should immediately conduct a fair an impartial investigation into any allegations, including bullying.

While bullying is not legally actionable, it can lead to high turnover, lower productivity and even workplace violence. The entire organization, including those not the target, are impacted by a workplace bully.

In such an investigation, the investigator will determine if an employee is bullying by interviewing other employees who have witnessed the behaviors but have not been the subject of the behaviors.

Employees are typically aware of the identity of current, and prior, targets. These are the most credible and reliable witnesses who can validate employee concerns.

Most importantly, employers cannot ignore these complaints, or attribute them to management holding employees to a high standard. Bullying exists in many workplaces, and the workplace is well served eliminating these individuals from the work environment.