Bill would fight office bullying

 Bullying in the workplace takes on many forms and affects employees from CEO to the copy room clerk.

In Massachusetts, however, it remains relatively unregulated, leaving victims in the lurch when they want to make a complaint.

If passed, Senate Bill No. 699 would change that and offer victims recourse for incidents that officials say occur four times more often than sexual harassment.

“Workplace bullying is very counterproductive and can have a devastating affect on workplace productivity,” David C. Yamada, professor of law at Suffolk University, said yesterday at a workplace bullying seminar at the Massachusetts Bar Association.

Yamada told the room — filled with labor lawyers, union reps and mediators — that a bullied employee in Massachusetts currently cannot seek workers compensation against an employer for negligence, assault, battery or infliction of emotional distress. And most claims that reach state courts are rejected because they do not meet the “extreme and outrageous” requirements of the law.

One participant in the seminar, who declined to give her name, said the medical field in which she worked is filled with bullies.

“We need status-blind protection laws,” she said. “[Human resources] have almost no recourse ... we’re just supposed to keep quiet, grin and bear it.”

Yamada is confident the bill will be passed and has seen growing support for it of late.