Workplace Drama Can Lead To Trauma

As we all (should) know, a hostile work environment can take many different forms. One of the more pernicious but often less reported forms of this kind of environment is bullying. It can and does mean different things to different people, and we learned in torts (all those many years ago for me) that we take people as we find them. Eggshell people do exist. So do drill sergeants.

A hostile work environment is real. So is retaliation. It’s a big reason why employees are so reluctant to come forward, to call out, to speak truth to power. Can I take this job and shove it, or do I need to stay put right now? Who can I speak with about this? Will anyone listen? More importantly, will anything change?

What has prompted this rant are recent articles about Scott Rudin, the Hollywood movie and Broadway theatrical producer. Conduct that has been occurring for some time is finally being listened to. He is Exhibit A for bullying: from allegedly insulting people to allegedly physically injuring staff. He is someone for whom the award Champion Jerk was made.

Rudin has decided to “step back” (his words, not mine) and has apologized for the “pain he has caused.”

Is he sincerely apologetic or merely sorry for being called out?

Would you accept his apology if you are one of the ones traumatized by his alleged conduct? What if your hand was bashed by a computer monitor? Did you duck in time to avoid being hit by a stapler? A potato? (Yes, you read that last one correctly.) How about being called a “retard?”

We know that bullying exists, not just on the Hollywood-Broadway axis but everywhere in the workplace. A few years back, California adopted an anti-bullying statute, part of the training required here since 2005. Essentially, what the law requires is training on the prevention of abusive conduct in addition to the other forms of harassment training.

The statute defines abusive conduct as “conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests. Abusive conduct may include repeated infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets, verbal, or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance. A single act shall not constitute abusive conduct, unless especially severe and egregious.” I think we can all stipulate that Rudin’s conduct checks several boxes.

There is more conversation now about the subject of workplace trauma. Rather than dismiss it as “touchy-feely” and “woo-woo,” never has the discussion been needed more than in this past year of pandemic, isolation, competing demands, racial justice issues, political shenanigans, doing more with less, and exhaustion from looking at a screen all day, to mention just a few.

Given Rudin’s alleged antics, employers need to think about how the workplace can create trauma. We don’t know what traumas people carry, be it virus-related, work related, family related, or personal, but everyone carries something.

Workplace trauma is real; it exists and manifests itself in a variety of different ways.

Unlike my generation of lawyers — who kept everything under wraps and bottled up — younger generations of lawyers are much more open about how law practice (and the workplace trauma that can accompany it) can create mental health and substance abuse issues. Speaking up is all to the good. How many of us have worked for or are working for bosses like Scott Rudin?

We dinosaur lawyers were a bunch of wimps. Not only did we not speak up about mental health issues (yes, they also existed then), we accepted the lack of diversity and inclusion as givens.

I wish that dinosaur lawyers had felt free to speak out, speak up without fear of retaliation or the stigma of asking for help with mental health concerns. If only.

Not only is workplace trauma real, but PTSD is also a real outcome from such trauma. Getting laid off, getting fired, bullying, nastiness, job insecurity, racism, sexism, you name it, most, if not all of us, have experienced some sort of that at one time or another in our careers. The effects can be devastating, and they can prompt reevaluation of what’s important.

Working remotely hasn’t necessarily changed the dynamic of “see and be seen.” Instead of “bed check,” it’s now “Zoom check,” or “Skype check,” or “WebEx check.”

Unfortunately, many of us identify ourselves by what we do, not who we are.  Remarks of “not tough enough” and similar derogatory comments, such as “retard,” do nothing to improve what can be a toxic environment. Of course, leaders don’t see it as toxic, it’s “just business.”

Employers may well view the concept of trauma in the workplace as just a way to wiggle out of work. It’s not. Many employers ignore signs of mental health issues or the existence of a toxic or potentially toxic work environment (I call it the ostrich approach to people management.) Indianapolis, West Hempstead, to name the two most recent. Do you think that the latest spate of workplace shootings is a consequence of workplace trauma? Do you think that the too many deaths by suicide in our profession are consequences of workplace trauma? Grieving families know the answers.

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Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at [email protected].