Are there any laws against bullying?

[paisleyshirt]

What is the name of your state? Oregon.

What about passive-aggressive bullying (a manager who withholds information, uses humiliation or makes false accusations and blames an employee)?

Do I have any rights at all against a manager in downtown Portland, OR who wants to make my job so miserable I will leave?

He isn't breaking any laws - but is surely making my life miserable. Do I have any rights? What can I do? I have gone to HR and they could care less about his nasty emails and making up stories to make it look like things are my fault. He's a total liar. HR just wants to avoid conflict.

 

[cbg]

UNLESS he is treating you this way BECAUSE OF your race, religion, national origin, gender, disability, pregnancy or because you are over 40, then you are correct that he is not breaking any laws. And if he is not breaking any laws, then the law does not offer you any protections.

The problem with laws about bullying, is that what is considered bullying can be completely subjective. I've had employees complain that they were being bullied when an objective viewpoint held that the only thing that was happening, was a manager attempting to hold them to the same standards as everyone else. I've also seen employees who graciously and seemingly unbothered, accept treatment that would have sent me, and probably most people, into intensive therapy.

I'm not making any judgements about your situation, just explaining why it's so difficult to create and enforce laws against "bad treatment".

If nothing illegal is transpiring, HR has no legal obligation to interfere. Whether they ethically and/or morally should do so anyway or not, is something that we can't judge with the limited amount of information available. But legally they don't have to if no laws are being broken.

If no laws are being broken, then you have no legal recourse. Flip side of the same coin. What you can do is look for another job.

I am not unsympathetic. I have been where you are, and I know how difficult it can be. But the reality of the situation is that the law is not going to help you in this matter.

 

[paisleyshirt]

thank you.

Thank you. That's what I thought :-( I guess to be honest, I enjoy the job - just not the environment. I'm humiliated almost daily and publicly and I'm going to snap and lose my cool. I can't deal with being told one thing - then when i do what I'm told - I get in trouble because he changes the rules mid-way. I am definitely being set up to fail, and to be blamed. Don't know why he picked me - but I think you're right - I can't *do* anything legally to make it stop. I can only leave. What a mess I'm in :-(

 

[Beth3]

"What a mess I'm in" Only if you choose to stay there.

When you have a jerk of a boss, you "fire" the boss by finding another job where you'll be treated better and tendering your resignation.