Lifestyle

Bully pulpit

Will New York become the first state in the US to pass an anti-workplace bullying law?

That scenario took a step toward reality earlier this month, when the state Senate passed a bill that would allow workers subjected to workplace abuse to sue their employers.

It was a coup for a group of activists who’ve lobbied long and hard for an anti-bullying law, arguing that it’s needed to protect the many workers subject to systematic abuse. Similar bills have been introduced in over two dozen other states, though none has passed.

“One in six employees is affected by this,” says Mike Schlicht, co-coordinator of New York Healthy Workplace Advocates. “People have taken their lives over this issue.”

But business groups are taking aim at the proposed law, saying it would be a job killer and invite nuisance lawsuits.

“If you want to put up a sign saying Don’t Do Business in New York, that’s a pretty good way to do it,” says Michael Moran, spokesman for the Business Council of New York.

That view gets some support from Robert Nobile, an employment partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Such a law would open the floodgates for lawsuits, with “widespread implications” for employers, he says.

Ron Levine, spokesman for state Sen. Thomas Morahan, a sponsor, says the objections are based on a misunderstanding of the bill, which sets a low cap for damages ($25,000) and a high bar for proving harassment. What it would mainly do is force employers to take bullying complaints seriously, he says.

The bill is now in front of the assembly’s labor committee, whose chair, Susan John, has echoed the business lobby’s concerns. (John didn’t answer a request for comment.) That’s left backers lobbying Speaker Sheldon Silver to move the bill toward a floor vote. But a Silver spokeswoman said only that he intends to let it follow the normal legislative process.