Bullying in the Remote Workplace
On June 5, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that schools, day camps, bars, gyms, campgrounds and professional sports may begin reopening with modifications. This is another step towards reopening California amidst COVID-19. Nonetheless, the process is not complete. Many non-essential workers continue to work remotely fulltime. Other businesses have provided employees with options to telecommute. For example, Twitter announced its employees may continue to work remotely indefinitely if they choose. Google stated its workers will work from home for at least until the end of 2020. In this backdrop, telecommuting will continue to be the norm for many businesses. As a result, emerging employee complaints may look different, and workplace investigators need to adapt.
In this blog, we explore how COVID-19 is on pace to change one common workplace investigation – workplace bullying.
What is workplace bullying? Workplace bullying is a broad term. It is characteristically defined as pervasive behavior that interrupts a person’s ability to work and negatively impacts that person’s health and wellbeing. This includes cyberbullying, which may take the form of intimidation, threats, harassment, and other inappropriate behavior through the use of computers, cellphones, or other electronic devices.
What does bullying look like in the remote workplace? As more employees telecommute due to COVID-19, classic workplace bullying will decline. We will likely see a decrease in face-to-face conduct such as physical violence, yelling and shouting, and in-office pranks. Remote employees, however, still remain vulnerable to bullying. Workplace bullying is not specific to brick and mortar businesses. Consider these possibilities:
Don and Mary think the boss’ son, Mike, does not deserve to work at the company. They frown upon nepotism. Due to COVID-19, the team is working from home and conducting videoconferencing meetings daily. Don and Mary, tasked with organizing the meetings, purposefully keep Mike in the dark about the meeting schedule. They also schedule videoconferences at times when Mike is busy with other tasks. On rare occasions when Mike attends the videoconference meetings and tries to participate, Don interrupts him or Mary puts him on mute.
Daniel and April were both slotted to promote to Senior Sales Associate before COVID-19 struck. Now, only one promotion will be given. Daniel knows April dislikes the majority of her coworkers — they text about it frequently. Daniel takes screenshots of April’s meanest text messages and forwards them to the entire sales team. He strategically does so in a way that makes it seem he sent them by mistake. Daniel knows people will gossip and spread the damaging material about April throughout the office.
Daryl manages five members of the Information Technology (I.T.) staff. The I.T. team works long hours helping the company transition to a fully remote workforce in response to COVID-19. Feeling the pressure, Daryl emails his staff with tasks at all hours of the day, including on weekends. Daryl keeps tabs on who responds to him immediately, and who does not. He gives the most difficult tasks to those with delayed responses. He always emails the staff as a group, so those assigned difficult tasks feel singled out.
Melanie’s personal assistant, Donna, was furloughed in response to COVID-19. Their company is now 100% remote. A part-time worker, Dan, replaced Donna. Melanie wants Dan to fail so that Donna will return to her team. Melanie begins to sabotage Dan’s work. She deletes his electronic files, purposefully delays answering his emails, and provides him with misleading information when he asks for help with tasks.
How should workplace investigators analyze remote workplace bullying claims? When tasked with investigating remote workplace bullying, investigators should focus on the type of conduct occurring and the impact the conduct had on the complainant. Seek out witnesses who can provide context to the alleged conduct. Have they seen this type of conduct before? Is the conduct reasonable or unreasonable in light of particular roles, duties, and assignments? Seek out documentary evidence, including emails and text messages. Given the remote landscape, documentary evidence is likely plentiful and easily accessible. Above all, evaluate the entire record to determine whether the alleged behavior injuriously interrupts a person’s ability to work. Focus on the behavior and its impacts on the complainant. Do not get hung up on whether the conduct fits more traditional notions of “bullying.” Only after the full picture comes into view can an investigator make heads or tails of the allegations.
Bullying may not look the same as it did prior to COVID-19. Workplace investigators must anticipate changes and continue to conduct investigations that are neutral, timely, and thorough.
Matthew Rose is an Associate Attorney with Van Dermyden Maddux Law Corporation. His practice focuses on conducting workplace and Title IX campus investigations.
The foregoing is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice, nor should it be construed as such.
