WHAT THE WORKPLACE PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY ACT WILL DO
It’s time to say we’re not going to allow our government to tolerate abuse at work. Just as our government steps in with abusive families, our government needs to take action with toxic employers.
- It gives targeted employees legal recourse for employers creating a toxic work environment with a focus on specific, common behaviors that a reasonable person would deem toxic. Right now, it’s perfectly legal to be abusive at work in the U.S., even though it’s illegal in most of the industrialized world. Employers simply have way too much power. Targeted employees will be able to:
File a restraining order against the employee who violates this Act depending on state law.
Call for an internal investigation.
Bypass a rigged internal process by calling for an investigation by OSHA or a similarly charged state commission, with positions funded by employers themselves so they’ll stop passing the costs of employee well-being onto taxpayers.
Sue the employer and/or individual(s) in violation of this Act directly for economic, compensatory, and/or punitive damages and attorney’s fees. Employees can also sue criminally and choose to anonymously publicly disclose the case outcome, removing employers’ ability to silence them with non-disclosure agreements. - It requires employers to acknowledge, monitor, detect, prevent, discourage, and adequately address incidences of psychological abuse. Employers will no longer be allowed to sweep abuse at work under the rug and pretend they’re following protocol while ignoring abuse or retaliating to avoid liability. They’ll be required to:
Adopt and implement policies and training
Conduct an annual anonymous workplace climate survey to monitor the prevalence of abuse in their workplaces
Start third-party investigations within five business days and complete them within 30
Take responsibility if the outcome favors the targeted employee, including minimally issuing an apology, reinstating work, and coaching, counseling, or disciplining the employee who engages in toxic conduct. Discipline may include removing supervisory duties or termination. - It doesn’t pretend this issue is only an individual one. It also goes after the root issue: the oppressive, dehumanizing system that reinforces positive stereotypes for men, white workers, and high-wage workers and negative stereotypes for women, people of color, low-wage workers, and other groups considered “other” by the dominant groups. It calls for organizational accountability: the quarterly reporting of the number of discrimination and psychological abuse complaints and discipline, workers’ compensation claims, absenteeism rates, termination rates, stress leave rates, attrition rates, investigation rates, followup action rates, the workforce gender and racial makeup, and de-identified wage and salary data by protected category to government agencies for public access.
Workers deserve psychologically safe work environments.