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only plausible avenues of relief available to Targets are to file a
claim under either the common law tort of intentional infliction
of emotional distress (“IIED”) or under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 for a hostile work environment. These legal
options, however, may be insufficient to address the often subtle
nature of workplace bullying.^26
As a result, Professor David Yamada of Suffolk Law
School, a leading proponent of creating a distinct cause of action
for workplace bullying and the architect of the Healthy
Workplace Bill, has written extensively on the need for status-
blind legislation to address workplace bullying.^27 Since
workplace bullying, like sexual harassment, is subtle in nature,
Yamada modeled the bill largely after the hostile work
environment doctrine under sexual harassment case law.^28 The
Healthy Workplace Bill would create a civil cause of action for
victims of workplace bullying and hold employers liable for
creating or maintaining an abusive work environment.^29 As of
March 2013, twenty-four states—New York, Illinois, and
workplace-bullying laws in Europe and Canada); Amanda E. Lueders, Note,
You’ll Need More Than a Voltage Converter: Plugging European Workplace
Bullying Laws into the American Jurisprudential Outlet, 25 ARIZ. J. INT’L &
COMP. L. 197, 207–11 (2008).
(^26) See infra Part II.C.
(^27) See, e.g., David C. Yamada, Crafting a Legislative Response to
Workplace Bullying, 8 EMP. RTS. & EMP. POL’Y J. 475 (2004) [hereinafter
Yamada, Crafting a Legislative Response]; David C. Yamada, Employment
Law as if People Mattered: Bringing Therapeutic Jurisprudence into the
Workplace, 11 FLA. COASTAL L. REV. 257 (2010) [hereinafter Yamada,
Therapeutic Jurisprudence]; David C. Yamada, Human Dignity and American
Employment Law, 43 U. RICH. L. REV. 523 (2009) [hereinafter Yamada,
Human Dignity]; David C. Yamada, The Phenomenon of “Workplace
Bullying” and the Need for Status-Blind Hostile Work Environment
Protection, 88 GEO. L.J. 475 (2000) [hereinafter Yamada, Status-Blind
Hostile Work Environment]; David C. Yamada, United States: Workplace
Bullying and American Employment Law: A Ten-Year Progress Report and
Assessment, 32 COMP. LAB. L. & POL’Y J. 251 (2010) [hereinafter Yamada,
Ten-Year Progress Report].
(^28) See Yamada, Status-Blind Hostile Work Environment, supra note 27,
at 524–25.
(^29) See Yamada, Crafting a Legislative Response, supra note 27, at 517–
20.