Responding to Workplace Bullying: The Role of the Ombudsman

Outline of keynote address

This is an extended outline of my keynote address at the Annual Conference of the International Ombudsman Association, Houston, Texas, April 2012.

Note of Understanding

Guest column for the Boston Globe, May 2004

This guest column recounts my experiences in an adult education singing class in Boston and relates them to my work as an educator.

As Workplace Bullying Enters the Mainstream of American Employment Relations, Will Law and Public Policy Follow?

published in Perspectives on Work, Summer 2010/Winter 2011 issue

This article gives a trenchant summary of a decade's worth of efforts to make American employment law more responsive to workplace bullying.

Information on Law School and Graduate School Options for Those Who Want to Make a Difference

October 2010

This short paper outlines law school and graduate school options for those who are considering returning to school in order to prepare for careers in social change work, such as public interest law, public policy, and international relations.

It is adapted from presentations I have given to summer interns at Americans for Democratic Action in Washington D.C., whose national executive committee I chair.

Massachusetts Senate Bill No. 699, 2009-10 session

Healthy Workplace Bill, as introduced in the 2009-10 session of the Massachusetts Legislature

This version of the Healthy Workplace Bill, authored by Professor David Yamada of Suffolk University Law School, was introduced in the 2009-10 session of the Massachusetts Legislature.  State Senator Joan Menard was the lead sponsor.

The Employment Law Rights of Student Interns

published in the Connecticut Law Review 2003

Large and growing numbers of post-secondary students are working in internships for little or no pay, often while giving up the legal rights of most employees. This article examines the employment law rights of student interns, especially with regard to minimum wage standards and discrimination law.

Imagining the Good Workplace: It Starts with Individual Dignity

Presented at New Workplace Forum, April 2007

Potential Legal Protections and Liabilities for Workplace Bullying

Multidisciplinary Responses to Workplace Bullying: Systems, Synergy, and Sweat

Presented at the 6th International Conference on Workplace Bullying, University of Quebec at Montreal, June 2008

This paper assesses the workplace bullying movement through a multidisciplinary lens.

Is There a "Business Case" for Workplace Bullying Legislation?

Presented at the 2009 Work, Stress, and Health Conference

This short paper considers whether there is a "business case" for workplace bullying legislation.  It concludes by positing that advocates for workplace bullying laws must build a civil rights case positing that workplace bullying is a malicious violation of human dignity.

The Role of Labor Unions and Collective Bargaining in Combating Workplace Bullying

Presented at the 2009 Work, Stress, and Health Conference

This paper discusses the role of labor unions and collective bargaining in combating workplace bullying.  It closes with some observations for academicians and researchers on the importance of working with, and learning from, constituencies such as organized labor in addressing pressing social problems.

Workplace Bullying and Employment Law

Presented at Massachusetts Bar Association program, June 2009

This paper outlines potential legal claims and liabilities and ongoing law reform efforts with regard to workplace bullying, strongly emphasizing developments in Massachusetts.

Necessary Remedy: Injecting Therapeutic Jurisprudence Into American Employment Law

Presented at the 31st Congress of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health, New York University School of Law, June 2009

This paper posits a role for therapeutic jurisprudence in shaping the substance and practice of American employment law.

The Looming Twenty-First Century Generation Gap: Economic Challenges Facing Younger Workers

published in Perspectives on Work, 2010

Younger adults preparing to enter today’s workforce face a confluence of economic challenges unknown to many of their predecessors.  These include rising student loan debt, barriers and higher thresholds to entry-level jobs, reduced wages and benefits, and heavier responsibilities for funding their own retirements and those of preceding generations.  Many of these concerns were in play before the recession, but the economic meltdown has intensified all of them.  Although the exact mix of these factors remains speculative, potentially we face a long period of generational strife that will play out in our workplaces, boardrooms, and legislatures.

Briefing Paper in Support of Senate No. 699

This is the paper I submitted as part of my testimony in support of the Healthy Workplace Bill in Massachusetts, before the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, on January 27, 2010.

Crafting an American Legal Response to Workplace Bullying: The Healthy Workplace Bill

Presented at University of Augsburg, Faculty of Law, Germany, April 2010

Although awareness of the human and organizational costs of workplace bullying has grown significantly since the late 1990s, American employment law lags behind that of many other nations in addressing this destructive phenomenon.  The current assortment of tort, discrimination, and occupational safety & health laws provides an inadequate set of protections to severely bullied workers.

In response to this void, I drafted the Healthy Workplace Bill, model anti-bullying legislation that provides bullied employees with a legal claim in civil court against individual offenders and their employers.  It also provides employers with legal incentives to act preventively and responsively with regard to bullying behaviors.  The Healthy Workplace Bill has been introduced in some 15 American state legislatures since 2003, and advocates are hopeful that states will begin to enact it into law in the coming years.

This presentation will summarize the state of American employment law relative to workplace bullying, present the essential features of the Healthy Workplace Bill, and relate it to existing and proposed legislation in other nations.

Imagining the Healthy Workplace -- A Conversation with David Yamada '99

Interview by Helen Susan Edelman

This interview appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of Connections, the magazine of SUNY-Empire State College, from which I earned a Master's degree in Labor & Policy Studies in 1999.

I have been an active alumnus of Empire State, because I believe wholeheartedly in its mission as a public, flexible-learning college for adults.  Recently I joined the Graduate Dean's Advisory Board, and for several years I have sponsored a modest scholarship for a graduate student pursuing studies in labor relations.

Workplace Bullying and the Law, 2000-2010: A Global Assessment

Keynote address PP slides for the 7th International Conference on Bullying and Harassment at Work, Cardiff, Wales (June 2010)

This presentation is drawn largely from David C. Yamada, Workplace Bullying and the Law: Emerging Global Responses, in Stale Einarsen & Helge Hoel, eds., Workplace Bullying: Developments in Theory, Research and Practice (London: Taylor & Francis, forthcoming 2010).

Americans for Democratic Action Resolution Supporting Workplace Bullying Legislation

Adopted at the June 2010 biennial convention of Americans for Democratic Action

Americans for Democratic Action (www.adaction.org), a venerable political and policy advocacy organization establishment in 1947, adopted this resolution supporting workplace bullying legislation at its June 2010 convention.

As an ADA national board member, I drafted and submitted the resolution, drawing heavily upon my previous writings, legislative testimony, and policy briefs on the topic.

The Adult Educator as Public Intellectual

published in Andre P. Grace, Tonette S. Rocco, and Assocs., Challenging the Professionalization of Adult Education: John Ohliger and Contradictions in Modern Practice (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009)

John Ohliger (1926-2004) was a pioneering, iconoclastic, radical adult educator, writer, and community activist.  This volume consists of a sampling of his writings and commentaries by people who knew John and were familiar with his work.  My chapter uses John's life and work as the backdrop for examining the public intellectual roles played by adult educators.

Workplace Bullying and Ethical Leadership

published in the Journal of Values-Based Leadership (2008).

Workplace bullying presents serious challenges to organizations, but it remains one of the most neglected problems in the realm of employment relations. This article addresses the implications of workplace bullying for organizational leaders and suggests measures that can be undertaken to respond to it. In addition, it considers workplace bullying in the context of individual dignity and the practice of values-based leadership.

Human Dignity and American Employment Law

published in the University of Richmond Law Review (2009)

For decades, American employment law has been framed by the ideas of the unfettered free market and unilateral management control. This "markets and management" framework has helped to deliver growing levels of income inequality, job insecurity, and stress at work. This essay argues that human dignity should be our framing perspective for examining and shaping American employment law, building its case around sources ranging from Enlightenment philosopher John Locke and America's Founding Fathers, to newer fields such as therapeutic jurisprudence and the works of relational psychology theorists Carol Gilligan and Jean Baker Miller. The essay discusses several important employment law issues against the backdrop of this new "dignitarian" framework and closes with ideas about advancing this agenda in the public arena.

Workplace Bullying and American Employment Law: A Ten-Year Progress Report and Assessment

forthcoming in the Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

This article details the early history of efforts to make American employment law more responsive to workplace bullying, covering a period roughly from 2000 to the present day, with much of the commentary grounded in the author's personal involvement in these initiatives. It starts by examining research, education, and advocacy efforts concerning workplace bullying and its legal implications. It then explains the major provisions of the latest version of the Healthy Workplace Bill, model anti-bullying legislation drafted by this author that has been the basis of bills introduced in over a dozen states' legislatures since 2003. The article closes with an assessment of the future of legal and policy initiatives to protect workers against severe workplace bullying in the United States.

The Phenomenon of "Workplace Bullying" and the Need for Status-Blind Hostile Work Environment Protection

published in the Georgetown Law Journal (2000)

Workplace bullying is the repeated, malicious, and health-endangering mistreatment of an employee by one or more other employees. It is common and costly to workers and employers alike. This article examines the legal and public policy implications of workplace bullying under American employment law, concluding that existing protections are inadequate and proposing the rudiments of a statute creating a claim for the intentional infliction of a hostile work environment.

Crafting a Legislative Response to Workplace Bullying

published in the Employee Rights & Employment Policy Journal (2004)

This article summarizes the state of employment law relative to workplace bullying and explains the provisions of the Healthy Workplace Bill, a model anti-bullying statute that since 2003 has been the template for legislation introduced in 12 American state legislatures.

Employment Law as if People Mattered: Bringing Therapeutic Jurisprudence into the Workplace

published in the Florida Coastal Law Review (2010)

During the past 20 years, scholars and practitioners drawn to therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) have produced a substantial body of work, with mental health law, criminal law, family law, and legal education being focal points for examination under a TJ lens. Employment law, however, has been conspicuously underrepresented in TJ-inspired scholarly and law practice literature. This essay is built on the premise that employment law scholars and lawyers, as well as the public at large, would benefit by applying a TJ perspective to the law of the workplace, and it suggests some framing concepts drawn from psychology and related disciplines to guide future research, analysis, and practice. It also applies these ideas to the challenges of representing employees and employers, using workplace bullying as a specific scenario for discussion.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence and the Practice of Legal Scholarship

forthcoming in the University of Memphis Law Review

The culture of legal scholarship has become preoccupied with article placement, citations, and download numbers, thus obscuring a deeper appreciation for the contributions of scholarly work. This article proposes that therapeutic jurisprudence (“TJ”), a theoretical framework that examines the therapeutic and anti-therapeutic properties of the law and legal practice, provides us with tools for understanding and changing that culture.

More prescriptively, the article applies a TJ lens to: (1)identify a set of good practices for legal scholarship; (2) examine the TJ movement as an example of healthy scholarly practice; (3)consider the role of law professors as intellectual activists; and, (4)propose that law schools nurture a scholar-practitioner orientation in their students to help them become more engaged members of the legal profession.

Voices from the Cubicle: Protecting and Encouraging Private Employee Speech in the Post-Industrial Workplace

published in the Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law (1998)

Employee self-censorship, the decline of unionization, electronic surveillance, corporate political partisanship, and longer hours at work are all contributing to a chill on private employee speech. This article examines the legal landscape of free speech for private sector workers and proposes that comprehensive protection of non-disruptive, non-disloyal employee speech would benefit workers and employers.