NY considers antibullying bill for all workers

New York lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it easier for employees who claim to work in hostile environments to sue their employers successfully, regardless of whether they are a protected class with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

S.B. 1893, filed Tuesday and sent to the Labor Committee, states that legal protections provided by the EEOC, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and workers compensation laws are insufficient to protect workers from hostile work environments and that “workplace bullying, mobbing and non-discriminatory harassment can inflict serious health harm upon targeted employees, including insomnia and chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety and depression disorders, migraines, suicidal ideation, impaired immune systems, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, complex post-traumatic stress syndrome, and deterioration of familial relationships.”

The bill states that “existing harassment laws are only applicable if the abusive mistreatment in the workplace is motivated by discriminatory animus towards the target’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or military status” and “legal protection from abusive mistreatment in the workplace should not be limited to behaviors predicated on protected class status.”

The bill provides guidelines for complaints and legal procedures. It also states that emotional distress damages and punitive damages may be awarded “only when the actionable conduct was extreme and outrageous.”