John Ostwald: Passing the Healthy Workplace bill needed

“I feel like a pariah at work. I always eat alone.”

“When I fought back it got worse, but I know it is the right thing to do.”

“Sometimes I feel like I have a spear and the bullies have a tank.”

“Getting bullied by email or verbally at work is worse than getting punched in the face and the pain lasts much longer.”


“I can’t believe that these lies can be put on paper and sent to my home without any consequences.”

These are the responses I received from random people, in various employment settings, who felt that they were being bullied in the workplace. I can’t give you their names because they fear more abuse or the loss of their jobs. This is a somewhat hidden epidemic that happens regularly all over the country. It is hidden often, because as I mentioned above, the victims need their jobs and have to be silent and endure significant emotional abuse. I know that this has happened to some of you.

The consequences of workplace bullying are profound and sometimes end in suicide or homicide. The lesser but still troubling negative consequences involve drug use, depression and the significant disruption of family life.

While researching this topic I got lucky and met Michael Schlicht from Buffalo. He is the state coordinator for New York Healthy Workplace Advocates. New York Healthy Workplace Advocates is a grassroots organization dedicated to passing the Healthy Workplace Bill that will address abusive work environments related to workplace bullying.

I was lucky. He really provided me with an education on Workplace Bullying that was much more comprehensive than what I could learn by reading. Here are some of his comments.

“Workplace bullying is defined as repeated, health-harming mistreatment in the form of verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, humiliation and sabotage that undermines business and services,” Schlicht said. “Targets of workplace bullying are employees who are bullied because they bring positive attributes to their employer and to the workplace. Workplace bullies are threatened by these traits, so they make the workplace environment abusive and toxic in the hope that the person will leave.”

These comments fascinated me because it seemed like adult victims have the opposite traits of childhood victims who might be perceived as weak, fragile and not able to stand up for themselves.

“Workplace bullying is four times more prevalent that sexual harassment,” Schlicht continued. “Yet, it is perfectly legal in the U.S. workplace to verbally abuse and employee, sabotage their work product and display offensive conduct and behaviors that cause health harm. Over the last several years, more and more targets of workplace bullying have stated to our legislators that they have been bullied out of the jobs when the employer wanted to avoid paying unemployment insurance instead of firing the person and forcing older workers out of their jobs several years short of retirement.”

Each year NYHWA hosts three “Lobby Day” events to update state legislators on the issue and invite people who have experienced workplace bullying to speak about their experiences. Some of the experiences people have shared over the years include: job loss, partial/permanent disability, under employment, suicide and catastrophic physical and mental health issues. Schlicht’s group was at the state Legislature in January. Individuals who are interested in assisting with the passage of the Healthy Workplace Bill can contact the group at

Finally, I was in a line at a wake for a wonderful teacher, father and husband, Sam Marro, when a buddy asked me what my column was about this week. I told him and he said that he was bullied out of a job that he had for more than 20 years.

John Ostwald is a writes a bi-monthly column for The Troy Record.

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