HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 517        FILED ON: 1/11/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1766

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Ellen Story and Katherine M. Clark

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act addressing workplace bullying, mobbing, and harassment, without regard to protected class status.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Ellen Story

3rd Hampshire

1/11/2013

Katherine M. Clark

Fifth Middlesex

1/11/2013

Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera

10th Hampden

2/1/2013

Michael R. Knapik

Second Hampden and Hampshire

 

Danielle W. Gregoire

4th Middlesex

 

Frank I. Smizik

15th Norfolk

 

Louis L. Kafka

8th Norfolk

 

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

 

Jennifer L. Flanagan

Worcester and Middlesex

 

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

1/31/2013

James J. O'Day

14th Worcester

2/1/2013

Paul Brodeur

32nd Middlesex

1/31/2013

Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.

34th Middlesex

 

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

 

Denise Andrews

2nd Franklin

1/29/2013

Christine E. Canavan

10th Plymouth

1/30/2013

Kevin G. Honan

17th Suffolk

1/30/2013

Peter V. Kocot

1st Hampshire

1/29/2013

John W. Scibak

2nd Hampshire

1/30/2013

Benjamin Swan

11th Hampden

1/30/2013

John J. Mahoney

13th Worcester

2/1/2013

Brian R. Mannal

2nd Barnstable

 

John P. Fresolo

16th Worcester

 

Jonathan Hecht

29th Middlesex

 

John F. Keenan

Norfolk and Plymouth

 

Aaron Vega

5th Hampden

 

James T. Welch

Hampden

 

Gailanne M. Cariddi

1st Berkshire

 

Sonia Chang-Diaz

Second Suffolk

 

Thomas M. McGee

Third Essex

 

Carlos Henriquez

5th Suffolk

 

Patricia A. Haddad

5th Bristol

 

Brian M. Ashe

2nd Hampden

 

Diana DiZoglio

14th Essex

 

John J. Lawn, Jr.

10th Middlesex

 

Russell E. Holmes

6th Suffolk

 

Denise Provost

27th Middlesex

 

Theodore C. Speliotis

13th Essex

 

Paul McMurtry

11th Norfolk

 


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 517        FILED ON: 1/11/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1766

By Ms. Story of Amherst and Senator Clark, a joint petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1766) of Ellen Story and others for legislation to address workplace bullying, mobbing and harrassment, without regard to protected class status.  Labor and Workforce Development.

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 916 OF 2011-2012.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Thirteen

_______________

 

An Act addressing workplace bullying, mobbing, and harassment, without regard to protected class status.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

The General Laws, as appearing in the 2010 Official Edition, are hereby amended by inserting after chapter 151F the following chapter:-

Chapter 151G

THE HEALTHY WORKPLACE

Section 1.  (a)The General Court finds that:

(1)  The social and economic well-being of the Commonwealth is dependent upon healthy and productive employees;

(2)  At least a third of all employees will directly experience health-endangering workplace bullying, abuse, and harassment during their working lives, and this form of mistreatment is approximately four times more prevalent than sexual harassment alone;

(3)  Workplace bullying, mobbing, and harassment can inflict serious harm upon targeted employees, including feelings of shame and humiliation, severe anxiety, depression, suicidal tendencies, impaired immune systems, hypertension, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder;

(4)  Abusive work environments can have serious consequences for employers, including reduced employee productivity and morale, higher turnover and absenteeism rates, and increases in medical and workers’ compensation claims;

(5)  If mistreated employees who have been subjected to abusive treatment at work cannot establish that the behavior was motivated by race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, or age, they are unlikely to be protected by the law against such mistreatment;

(6)  Legal protection from abusive work environments should not be limited to behavior grounded in protected class status as that provided for under employment discrimination statutes; and,

(7)  Existing workers’ compensation plans and common-law tort actions are inadequate to discourage this behavior or to provide adequate relief to employees who have been harmed by abusive work environments.

(b)  It is the purpose of this chapter:

(1)  To provide legal relief for employees who have been harmed, psychologically, physically, or economically, by deliberate exposure to abusive work environments;

(2)  To provide legal incentive for employers to prevent and respond to abusive mistreatment of employees at work.

Section 2.  For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:-

“Abusive conduct”, acts, omissions, or both, that a reasonable person would find abusive, based on the severity, nature, and frequency of the conduct, including, but is not limited to:  repeated verbal abuse such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets; verbal, non-verbal, or physical conduct of a threatening, intimidating, or humiliating nature; or the sabotage or undermining of an employee’s work performance.  It shall be considered an aggravating factor if the conduct exploited an employee’s known psychological or physical illness or disability.  A single act normally shall not constitute abusive conduct, but an especially severe and egregious act may meet this standard;

“Abusive work environment”, an employment condition when an employer or one or more its employees, acting with intent to cause pain or distress to an employee, subjects that employee to abusive conduct that causes physical harm, psychological harm, or both;

“Adverse employment action”, an outcome which negatively impacts an employee, including but not limited to:  a termination, demotion, unfavorable reassignment, failure to promote, disciplinary action, or reduction in compensation.

“Constructive discharge”, an adverse employment action where: 

(1)  the employee reasonably believed he or she was subjected to an abusive work environment;

(2)  the employee resigned because of that conduct; and,

(3)  the employer was aware of the abusive conduct prior to the resignation and failed to stop it.

“Psychological harm”, the impairment of a person’s mental health, as established by competent evidence.

“Physical harm”, the impairment of a person’s physical health or bodily integrity, as established by competent evidence.

Section 3.  (a)  No employee shall be subjected to an abusive work environment.

(b)  No employer or employee shall retaliate in any manner against an employee who has opposed any unlawful employment practice under this chapter, or who has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation or proceeding under this chapter, including, but not limited to, internal complaints and proceedings, arbitration and mediation proceedings, and legal actions.

Section 4.  (a)  An employer shall be vicariously liable for a violation of section 3 of this chapter committed by its employee.

(b)  Where the alleged violation of said section 3 does not include an adverse employment action, it shall be an affirmative defense for an employer only that:

(1)  the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any actionable behavior; and,

(2)  the complainant employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of appropriate preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

Section 5.  (a)  An employee may be individually liable for a violation of section 3 of this chapter.

(b)  It shall be an affirmative defense for an employee only that the employee committed a violation of said section 3 at the direction of the employer, under actual or implied threat of an adverse employment action.

Section 6.  It shall be an affirmative defense that:

(a)  The complaint is based on an adverse employment action reasonably made for poor performance, misconduct, or economic necessity; or,

(b)  The complaint is based on a reasonable performance evaluation; or,

(c)  The complaint is based on an employer’s reasonable investigation about potentially illegal or unethical activity.

Section 7.  (a)  Where a party is liable for a violation of section 3 of this chapter, the court may enjoin the defendant from engaging in the unlawful employment practice and may order any other relief that is deemed appropriate, including, but not limited to:  reinstatement, removal of the offending party from the complainant’s work environment, back pay, front pay, medical expenses, compensation for pain and suffering, compensation for emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees.

(b)  Where an employer is liable for a violation of said section 3 that did not include an adverse employment action, emotional distress damages and punitive damages may be awarded only when the actionable conduct was extreme and outrageous.  This limitation does not apply to individually named employee defendants.

Section 8.  (a)This chapter shall be enforced solely by a private right of action.

(b)  An action under this chapter must be commenced no later than one year after the last act that constitutes the alleged violation of section 3 of this chapter.

Section 9.  (a)  Nothing in this chapter shall supersede rights and obligations provided under collective bargaining laws and regulations.

(b)  The remedies provided in this chapter shall be in addition to any remedies provided under any other law, and nothing in this chapter shall relieve any person from any liability, duty, penalty or punishment provided by any other law, except that if an employee receives workers’ compensation for medical costs for the same injury or illness pursuant to both this chapter and the workers’ compensation law, or compensation under both this chapter and that law in cash payments for the same period of time not working as a result of the compensable injury or illness or the unlawful employment practice, the payments of workers’ compensation shall be reimbursed from compensation paid under this chapter.