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behavior, workplace bullying involves repetition, duration, and
escalation, creating an ongoing pattern of abusive behavior.^39
Workplace bullying is also unique in that it can consist of both
covert and overt tactics.^40 Examples include excessive
monitoring or micromanaging, being sworn at, unwarranted or
invalid criticism, being humiliated and yelled at in front of
others, exclusion from important meetings, social isolation, and
being given unrealistic deadlines.^41 While an uncivil worker may
be rude and boorish, this behavior is generally not targeted at
anyone and is not personalized.^42 Conversely, bullying is a
“laser-focused, systematic campaign of interpersonal
destruction” that “escalate[s] in abusiveness.”^43 Therefore,
workplace bullying goes far beyond general incivility and
rudeness; it is the repeated and targeted abuse of an individual
that has devastating consequences for that person.
Bullies may take the form of either a supervisor or
coworker.^44 One study by the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health found that bullying by coworkers was more
common than bullying by bosses.^45 Another survey found that
coworkers were bullies in forty-three percent of cases, compared
to supervisor involvement in thirty-six percent of cases.^46 In
(^39) See WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW, supra note 36, at 1; Lutgen-
Sandvik, supra note 35, at 24.
(^40) See WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW, supra note 36, at 3.
(^41) See id. at 1; Early Signs of Bullying, WORKPLACE BULLYING INST.,
http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/early-signs/ (last
visited Apr. 5, 2013).
(^42) See Gary Namie, Workplace Bullying: Escalated Incivility, IVEY BUS.
J., Nov.–Dec. 2003, at 1 [hereinafter Namie, Escalated Incivility].
(^43) GARY NAMIE & RUTH NAMIE, THE BULLY-FREE WORKPLACE: STOP
JERKS, WEASELS, AND SNAKES FROM KILLING YOUR ORGANIZATION 6 (2011)
[hereinafter NAMIE & NAMIE, BULLY-FREE WORKPLACE]; The WBI
Definition of Workplace Bullying, supra note 33.
(^44) Press Release, Nat’l Inst. for Occupational Safety & Health, CDC,
Most Workplace Bullying Is Worker to Worker, Early Findings from NIOSH
Study Suggest (July 28, 2004), available at http://www.cdc.gov/
niosh/updates/upd-07-28-04.html.
(^45) Id.
(^46) Loraleigh Keashly & Joel H. Neuman, Bullying in the Workplace: Its
Impact and Management, 8 EMP. RTS. & EMP. POL’Y J. 335, 344 (2004).