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Thursday, May 08, 2008
Ind. Decisions - "Employers Can't Ignore Workplace Bullies"
Indiana's April 8th Supreme Court decision in the case Daniel H. Raess, M.D. v. Joseph E. Doescher (see list of ILB "workplace bullying" entries here) is the focus of a May 7th "Smart Answers" column by Karen E. Klein in Business Week. Some quotes:
Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of a hospital employee who sued a surgeon for emotional distress and assault based on his treatment of the person at work. The ruling drew national attention as an acknowledgment by the courts of workplace bullying both as a phenomenon and as legal terminology, says Garry Mathiason, chair of the corporate compliance practice group at labor and employment law firm Littler Mendelson. He spoke recently to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein about the implications of the Indiana case for small business owners. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow. * * *What was the Indiana case about?
There was behavior claimed to be intentional inflicting of emotional distress by a surgeon who apparently had a terrible temper. What was particularly interesting about the case was that the jury instructions used the phrase "workplace bullying" and it was questioned whether that term was too general. But the Supreme Court said the term had viability as a commonsense phrase for a jury.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 8, 2008 09:13 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions