Hundreds of activists in Massachusetts last October testified for ethical workplace conduct and anti-bullying legislation. Many spoke in favor of the Workplace Psychological Safety Act (WPSA), one of two proposed measures that could protect workers from mental and emotional harm.
Massachusetts employment law currently prohibits discrimination against workers who fall under a protected class, or based on race or ethnicity, disability, gender, age, or religion. However, the WPSA will expand the state’s current statutes and hone in on protecting employees from bullying and psychological abuse, including mental and emotional detriment, impeding career growth, and financial loss. This house bill aims to promote healthy work environments and make employers accountable for bullying, harassment, and mobbing.
According to a 2021 Workplace Bullying Institute Study, almost 80 million Americans are affected by bullying. The WBI defines workplace bullying as a form of “non-physical form of workplace violence” and “abusive conduct” including mistreatment that is “threatening, intimidating, humiliating, work sabotage or verbal abuse.”
Even with the high numbers, the disaggregated data shows that women and people of color are disproportionately affected. Male bullies, 67 percent, seem to prefer targeting women more than other men. Bullying data regarding race showed that the group most affected by bullying were Hispanics at 53 percent, followed by whites at 47 percent, Black people at 45 percent, and Asians at 32 percent.
The report found that workplace bullying even affects 43 percent of remote workers.
Behaviors that constitute “psychological abuse” include direct acts like verbal or written abuse, physical abuse, or public humiliation and degradation. Indirect acts of bullying and harassment are also prohibited like exclusion from work functions and communications, taking credit for work, and unreasonably heavy workloads.
For Asians, their rates of witnessing and believing are comparable to all the other groups but only 12 percent reported bullying incidents. The WBI infers that this low percentage may be due to cultural stigmas, meaning the bullying rates may be higher.
Sampan spoke with two Boston professionals who attested anonymously to the struggles of being perceived as different and at times difficult based on standards beyond their control. Simply put, their stories of microaggressions speak to a larger issue of living in a society in which they are expected to live up to unrealistic standards.
“You have to understand how it is to be a young Asian woman whose very presence can be threatening to my majority white colleagues,” Alison (not her name) said. “I am a twenty-four year old Asian woman. I was born and raised in Vietnam. I take care of myself and take pride in my appearance.
Beyond that, there is the sexism that most young professional women experience, the fear that our personal space is always at risk of being violated, and we hesitate to speak. I am an educated woman. I am in my LCSW Master’s Program and people say I sound like a baby or a sex worker. They say I have a flat voice, that I should be working in a nail salon or taking orders at a restaurant. ‘I don’t understand you,’ they say. ‘Speak clearly.’ Sometimes I wish I never learned English, and it doesn’t help that lately I’ve been crying myself to sleep most weekends.”
Russell, a sixty year old Asian man from Japan who has been in the United States since 2005, reflected about ageism, which (like many acts of bullying) at first seemed benign.
“I worked as an educator at a local non-profit from 2020-2023. I was over twice the age of most of my colleagues and they made sure I never forgot that. Within a week after introducing myself to my twenty-eight year old female colleague, a pitiful look came over her face. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked. ‘What happened to your life?’ Based solely on my age, and she didn’t know anything else about me, she wondered why I was at this low-paying non-profit.
I was also expected to be a Microsoft Words expert, a master of the Zoom meeting, a Wizard level multi-tasker with google spreadsheets and Smartboard Presentations. My supervisors had no patience and offered no flexibility when it came to my learning new skills. I did learn everything, of course, but I was still considered a benign tumor at the agency soon to become malignant. I left the job and found myself with older colleagues in a more relaxed atmosphere. Ageism is real, everybody, and like any workplace bullying incident it seems harmless when it’s cloaked in ‘good-natured’ jokes.”
If passed, the Workplace Psychological Safety Act (WPSA) will not only bridge the gaps between federal discrimination laws established under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, but it will make Massachusetts the first state to hold employers legally accountable for psychological workplace safety. This stride toward an ethical work environment is a continuous conversation in Massachusetts, especially with an anti-bullying proposal in the Boston City Council developing in response to the numerous complaints of harassment. One notable incident raised tension when attorney Christine O’Donnell accused three councilors of allegedly bullying and ridiculing her during a redistricting hearing.
According to a letter reported by the Boston Herald, O’Donnell wrote, “There is a toxic work environment at the City Council where individuals are afraid to speak up for fear of retribution or retaliation.”
Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, one of the accused legislators, pushed back on O’Donnell’s statements who reported feeling “intimidated and bullied by Councilor Arroyo’s actions.”
“The entirety of this exchange was between myself and Councilor Ed Flynn on the floor, on video, in front of the media and the public,” he said in a statement. The incident in question was not captured on camera since it occurred during recess but according to the Boston Globe, the meeting between Flynn and Arroyo was a “frosty exchange.”
Last month, the bill moved up to Senate Ways & Means but according to the End Workplace Abuse group, it is paired with another less restrictive act, the Healthy Workplace bill, that does not protect employees enough and is “regressive” with sexual harassment law.
Critics of the WSPA bill believe that its motive to promote “psychological safety” in the workplace may disturb the labor market altogether, particularly when legal action can be taken against employers with “at will” processes.
“It’s one thing to create a law that states that you cannot treat people abusively at work,” David Yamada, a legal professor at Suffolk University, told the Boston Globe. Achieving a psychologically safe environment is “trying to mandate a state of mind, which is often less about the law and more about the integrity of people in the workplace.”
Author and researcher Jennifer Fraiser noted that indirect, “non-physical” forms of bullying can still tangibly harm the individual. In her book, “The Bullied Brain,” she showcases 20 years of peer-reviewed research on how the brain is physically harmed by all forms of harassment and abuse.
“This damage is visible on brain scans,” Jennifer Fraser said in response to Vega’s op-ed. “All forms of bullying and abuse have the capacity to leave neurological scars and dismantle brain architecture.”
Other supporters of the bill voiced the financial effects of workplace bullying. In the same response letter, Marcia MacInnis stated, “In addition, when someone’s earnings suffer because of bullying, there are also economic consequences for the community as a whole. This includes workers’ compensation costs and the expense of social services and other forms of financial assistance to those who have been marginalized in the workplace.”
By the end of February, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development must decide whether to pass the bill. With this limited time remaining, anti-workplace abuse groups are urging Massachusetts residents and legislators to show their support by emailing and contacting their legislators. The WSPA has already been passed in Rhode Island and is awaiting introduction in New York City. Sampan will follow this story and report on how it’s resolved (if at all) in a later issue.
