Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Fireman Bullied at Tucson Fire Department

Last Spring, a Tucson firefighter began litigation proceedings against the Tucson Fire Department for their bullying activities against him. Adam Neal accused his co-workers of harassment that included “tying him up with duct tape,” according to an Associated Press article in the Arizona Republic.

Neal stated he endured daily abuse that his supervisors at the Fire Department said was “just part of the training.” Eventually, due to the stress induced by these workplace bullies, Neal required four days of inpatient therapy for depression.

As often happens, the claim was settled out of court. In this case, the settlement was $60,000 but, of course, the Tucson Fire Department had no comment.

From a bottom-line perspective, this case cost much more than $60,000. One of the additional costs includes the time wasted on non-productive activities:
-time devoted to bullying
-time lost due to low employee engagement of the bullies and their target
-time spent on preparing and defending the case
-absenteeism
That’s only the beginning.

The next time an organization calls you requesting a contribution, you might want to think about it twice before donating your hard-earned dollars. Do a little research first to learn whether the organization in question has wasted its funds on bullying and other forms of harassment. Somebody has to pay the costs of bullying. But I don’t want to. And you probably don’t either.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are so many covert and overt forms of bullying, most people have no idea how it affects their victims.
In my case, the Director said, "that is their way of blowing off steam".
I kid you not, those were the exact words.

Unknown said...

Lar,

Your director was basically approving the bullying behavior, obviously not seeing it that way.

It's good to bring awareness to this challenge. Jean is doing a great job here.

Jackie

Jean R. McFarland, Ph.D. said...

Thank you Lar and Jackie for stopping by and commenting on workplace bullying. Fortunately, as more people become willing to speak of their experiences, more research is launched.

I continue to review new research as it is published and relate it to real workplace happenings in terms of employees and business outcomes. The emotional, physical, and financial costs are too great to ignore--especially during this economic downturn.

Stop by again.

Here's to a Happier and Healthier New Year!

Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.