Some people stand up for themselves and are successful at it. Some do, and are unsuccessful. Some, because of a variety of economic, social, personal, or even political competing pressures, don’t or can’t stand up. But that’s not really the point, is it?

Your question, “Does a person have the right to sue because he/she doesn’t have the fortitutde to address his/her own issues?” presupposes that the issue an employee faces is an individual one. If that presupposition were backed by evidence, I might agree with you.

The problem is that bullying is never an individual issue; there are always at least two people involved. It is those two people (at least) that need to be given the opportunity to work it out. Sometimes, if both parties are rational, reasonable people, they are successful on their own.

However, the whole topic of bullying involves behavior (even if just perceived behavior, to give meaning to what is apparently your position on this issue) that is NOT rational or reasonable. The reality unfortunately is that a person, for whatever their own motivations, that uses leverage in the workplace to intimidate, ridicule, threaten, or actually injure another (usually – but not always – a person subordinate to them) is also not a person that can self-recognize the impact and consequence(s) of their behavior – on others or even themselves. That same person – if the facts show they did what they were accused of doing – would generally attempt to mitigate or wholly evade responsibility for their actions (either because they don’t see them as wrong and are thus justified, or knew they were wrong and were motivated by something else).

Thus the need for law.

If everyone could resolve their “own issues,” there wouldn’t be any need for civil (or, for that matter, criminal) law. There would be no need for enforcement. Everyone would act collectively to the betterment of both themselves and others. The sum of human history, and the very foundations of civil society in developing from the state of nature, teaches us that such is not the case. People hurt other people, in as many different ways as there are different societal, economic, political and personal relationships.

Or perhaps you know this, and were merely having a visceral emotional reaction to a topic you chose to make a moral judgment on, for whatever your own motivations?

I can relate to your situation.

I didn’t call it by name at the time, but I was subjected to workplace bullying for nearly 7 years from the owners of the company I worked for. It started out slowly and the escalated. I was not a bad employee. In fact, I was one of the top producers. Motivation by fear and intimidation was the way they ran their business. For the longest time I had the mentality that I needed my job, it was a fact of life in the workplace and I needed to just suck it up and take it. But eventually it started to effect every area of my life. I was no longer happy and friendly and optimistic as I had always been. Friends and family didn’t want to be around me because I was a “downer”. I was now pessimistic and stressed and the pit I had in my stomach never went away. Not even on weekends. No one should have to endure that in the workplace. It is not healthy and it is not right or ethical. I finally made the decision that I valued myself even if my employer did not. It was not easy building up what had been torn down for so long, but I did it. I have been blessed with a fantastic job for a fantastic company and I am happy and optimistic once again. I was afraid at first that things would change when the honeymoon stage was over, but I have been with this company for quite some time and I can’t wait to get up and come to work every day. For those of you who are still struggling with this beast, let me encourage you to stand up for yourself and remember that you are valuable and even if your current employer doesn’t appreciate you, somewhere out there is an employer who will. There can be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Several people have complained using company channels, and most of us have had some sort of backlash due to bringing attention to our problems. However the most that happens is a slap on the wrist to management and he continues on his merry way.

I am a good employee. They pay me to do a job and I do it well, consistently and with the highest results in my department, yet I am always getting into trouble for some perceived incident. I am not a sue happy person, and I have tolerated my managers behavior for over a year. A year in which I have looked for work elsewhere, but unless I am willing to move out of state, there is nothing available here.

When you have exhausted the channels your work has set for you, complied with every thing that you were told to do, and you are still being harassed? What option are they leaving you with other than suing?