LEGISLATIVE NEWS (continued) Calling Disabled Person “Postal" May Be Harassing


When Brunswick Corporation hired Melvin Schwarzkopf as a maintenance worker, he had been struggling with depression and anxiety for most of his life. His anxiety caused him sleep difficulties, which made it difficult for him to focus at work. Still, for the first few years, Schwarzkopf had no difficulty performing his job. However, things changed when a co-worker named Duane Bauer began harassing him.


According to Schwarzkopf, Bauer called him names like "stupid," "idiot," "mental case," "dumb," and "incompetent" almost daily. Schwarzkopf says Bauer and another mechanic told him they worried he "might go postal."


Schwarzkopf complained to his supervisor Mark Hager, but Hager joined in the abuse. Hager supposedly called Schwarzkopf names and said that the reason people called him "postal is because you act so crazy." When Schwarzkopf specifically complained that being called "postal" or "crazy" was hurtful, Hager responded, "don't be so paranoid."


After enduring the comments for more than a year, Schwarzkopf sued Brunswick for harassment under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).


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INTERNATIONAL NEWS Criminalisation of Bullying In Victoria, Canada


On 31 May 2011, the Victorian Government passed legislation called ‘Brodie’s Law’ in recognition of BrodiePanlock, a young waitress who committed suicide following a prolonged period of workplace bullying. The Victorian WorkCover Authority prosecuted three of MsPanlock’s colleagues, as well as the owner of the cafe in which she worked.


The Magistrates’ Court fined the employer and co-workers a total of $335,000.


The effect of these changes is that ‘bullying’ behaviour, which has traditionally been regarded as a breach of occupational health and safety legislation, may now also be reported to the Victorian Police for prosecution. A person who is subjected to such behaviour may also seek an intervention order to prevent a person from engaging in this behaviour towards them.


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Canada - All Manitoba employers will now have to report annually on all violent incidents in their workplace.Labour Minister Jennifer Howard said changes will take effect at the end of August and will also require all employers to develop policies on how to get immediate help when workers are threatened."You need a way for an employee to call for help, to get immediate help, and they need to know what that procedure is," said Howard. She said tracking and reporting violence in the workplace can be "helpful" in assessing what level of risk there is, as well as raising awareness among workers about the importance of coming forward.The changes also make it clear personal information can be released amongst employees to protect workers from violence, an issue that's cropped up in the health-care sector due to privacy legislation."(If there's) a client or a patient or someone in the workplace that has that history, they can release that information, and they should release that information where necessary to protect employees from the risk of violence," said Howard.


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