Got a bully for a boss? You'll be rich soon
Harassed UK employees are claiming huge sums in damages from companies.
By Agencies |
LONDON: The bullying of British workers has hit the headlines, but victims have tended to sit tight before complaining to bosses and taking legal action that could now net them substantial compensation.
A secretary won damages of more than £8,00,000 ($1.5m) against Deutsche Bank last week after suffering a ‘relentless campaign’ of bullying that put her at risk of suicide. But Helen Green, 36, waited several years before suing Germany’s biggest bank.
Her huge award came a day before a survey revealed that 80% of Britons had been bullied at work while suggesting that most did not complain to their employers. Only 11% of 1,300 workers questioned by the employment law firm Peninsula said they would report workplace bullying to a superior, while just 9% said they felt their boss would take complaints seriously.
“One of the most serious concerns to come out of this research is that few employers believe their companies are suffering at the hands of bullying, yet a high percentage of employees have been victims,” Peninsula managing director Peter Done said.
“This suggests that workers do not feel confident enough to tell their bosses they are being bullied.” Green’s case supports Done’s argument . After the court ruling she said: “The only thing is that I put up with it (the bullying) for longer than most others. I wanted my career .”
“In hindsight, to maintain my health, I should have left but is that a solution? Is that what people should do when somebody is trying to ruin their career, just go?” Judge Robert Owen, who heard Green’s case at London’s High Court, said she was ‘subjected to a relentless campaign of mean and spiteful behaviour designed to cause her distress’ by several colleagues.
A secretary won damages of more than £8,00,000 ($1.5m) against Deutsche Bank last week after suffering a ‘relentless campaign’ of bullying that put her at risk of suicide. But Helen Green, 36, waited several years before suing Germany’s biggest bank.
Her huge award came a day before a survey revealed that 80% of Britons had been bullied at work while suggesting that most did not complain to their employers. Only 11% of 1,300 workers questioned by the employment law firm Peninsula said they would report workplace bullying to a superior, while just 9% said they felt their boss would take complaints seriously.
“One of the most serious concerns to come out of this research is that few employers believe their companies are suffering at the hands of bullying, yet a high percentage of employees have been victims,” Peninsula managing director Peter Done said.
“This suggests that workers do not feel confident enough to tell their bosses they are being bullied.” Green’s case supports Done’s argument . After the court ruling she said: “The only thing is that I put up with it (the bullying) for longer than most others. I wanted my career .”
“In hindsight, to maintain my health, I should have left but is that a solution? Is that what people should do when somebody is trying to ruin their career, just go?” Judge Robert Owen, who heard Green’s case at London’s High Court, said she was ‘subjected to a relentless campaign of mean and spiteful behaviour designed to cause her distress’ by several colleagues.
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Green had worked in the secretariat division of the group in London between October 1997 and October ’01.
Deutsche Bank has denied bullying or harassment but said it respects the court’s judgment, while it considers an appeal.
In recent years, the biggest claims in Britain for compensation as a result of alleged bullying has come from workers in the City — London’s financial district. Three years ago, Britain’s High Court ordered US brokers Cantor Fitzgerald to pay almost one million pounds in damages to a former director Steven Horkulak who suffered months of verbal abuse from his boss. In December ’04, a former top-executive at Merrill Lynch was said to have won about £70,000 for ‘unlawful victimisation’ . Stephanie Villalba had sought more than £7m for sexual discrimination, but the US investment bank was found not guilty of that claim. Green charged during her trial that she had been ‘stonewalled’ from the outset.
She was targeted especially by four women, whose bullying saw them imply that Green smelled bad, hide her post (mail) and remove papers from her desk. “Bullying in the workplace must not be tolerated and employers must ensure that they have clear policies in place to discourage, prevent and deal with all forms of bullying,” said Anthony Thompson, head of employment policy at the CBI employers federation in reaction to the court ruling and the Peninsula survey. The survey revealed that only 13% of more than 2,000 employers polled recognised that bullying was an issue in their workplace.
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