Workplace Bullying (S 2486A)

While ensuring a healthy workplace is a laudable goal, we opposed a piece of legislation which would have created a far-reaching “civility code” and imposed liability on employers or co-workers who are, among other things, “overbearing.” We noted that it could have potentially run afront of First Amendment protections in seeking to regulate routine personal interactions, and that it would have provided even broader protections than those available to victims of discrimination protected by the state Fair Employment Practices Act. Positively, this legislation died in the House after passing the Senate.