Understanding the Need for and the Current Protections of Upstanders
If we are ever truly going to achieve the goal of eliminating workplace harassment and bullying from the American workplace, including the bullying of teachers and other K12 employees, there are a number of things that must be done. First and foremost, we will need a strong federal law, with strong enforcement. The current legal protections against workplace harassment have failed to even protect all targets of status-based harassment, much less the broader phenomena of workplace bullying. Second, even if a strong law is passed, we also need the help of bystanders. We need bystanders to become upstanders to defend and protect targets of bullying and to call out the bullies in their workplaces. Even in the absence of strong laws, upstanders can help to eliminate a great deal of the bullying in our workplaces. The focus of this blog will be on this former part of the solution to workplace bullying.
In 2015 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), convened a task force to explore the reasons why harassment continued to be such a huge issue in the American workplace nearly 30 years after harassment was ruled to be a form of discrimination by the Supreme Court. After months of testimony from experts from human resource departments, labor unions, law firms, worker organizations, employer organizations and numerous meetings of the 17 members of the task force, the EEOC Commissioners came up with a list of recommendations. One such recommendation was that we all needed to play a role to end harassment.
Harassment in the workplace will not stop on its own. The ideas noted above (earlier in the report) are helpful, but ultimately, may not be sufficient. It is on all of us to be part of the fight to stop workplace harassment. We cannot be complacent bystanders and expect our workplace CONTINUE READING: Badass Teachers Association Blog: Understanding the Need for and the Current Protections of Upstanders
