Bullying vs. Harassment in the Workplace

Many employees experience bullying at work.  Their managers or co-workers humiliate or intimidate them, sabotage their work, verbally abuse them, or subject them to unfair treatment.  Unfortunately, most workplace bullying is not illegal in California.  However, it is illegal for employers to bully or harass employees or otherwise to subject them to a hostile work environment because of their sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, national origin, age, disability, religion, or other legally protected characteristics.

Employees who are being subjected to an abusive working environment should consider whether their managers or co-workers are treating them unfairly because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics.  Evidence of this may include sexist comments, racist slurs, or homophobic remarks directed toward the employee.  It may also include negative statements about a group as a whole.  It may include treating one group of employees differently than other employees, such as yelling and screaming at female employees while treating male employees with respect.  Such harassment may be unlawful.

Listen to our attorneys speak more with KALW (91.7FM) San Francisco’s radio show host, Chuck Finney, here.