“Bullying is often interspersed when the term harassment is used, but bullying in the workplace has its origins in what happened in the classic school yard bullying. So, for example, behavior that is intimidating, that is hostile, that is aggressive, gossiping about an individual, threatening to an individual, ostracizing an individual, deliberately withholding information from someone, yelling at someone, or throwing objects at someone. So, in a retail environment, if one employee or a customer, engages in this behavior, throws something at an employee or did any of those behaviors I just described, then it’s something that the retailer should address promptly. And it’s even more critical for a retailer because of the third-party behavior issue. A retailer is responsible for an environment where its employees are free from bullying or harassment, not only from each other but also from customers. “
By Richard I. Lehr, Esq., Lehr Middlebrooks Vreeland & Thompson, P.C.
>> A 10-point policy for handling workplace harassment and bullying in a retail setting