Bullying in the workplace is interpersonal violence and severely impacts the workplace environment and also may cause psychological harm to the victim. Chronic bullying can cause PTSD and lead to health problems. Bullying can also be a sign of underlying corruption or malfeasance in the workplace. All employers are advised to take workplace bullying seriously and take steps to prevent it

1. Medical Whistleblower
February 2006
Volume 1 Issue 2
Medical Whistleblower’s
Canary Notes
Inside this issue:
Do you recognize these 2
bullying behaviors? Tim Field — Anti-bullying Advocate
What is the profile of a 3
typical bully?
Tim Field died of cancer in January 2006
What are bullying’s 3
typical outcomes? aged 53, but he will never be forgotten by those who
The Target of the Bully 4
gained so much from his advocacy regarding Bullying
The Problem of 4
in the Workplace. He was born in the UK and
Workplace Violence
worked in computer science for nineteen years. He
What is workplace was himself a target of Bullying in the Workplace. In
bullying?
1996 he founded the UK National Workplace Bully-
“Workplace bully-
ing is persistent,
unwelcome, ing Advice Line. He wrote and published a book
intrusive
behavior of one or “Bully in Sight” based on his own experiences and
more individuals
whose actions pre- impressions of calls from over 10,000 cases world-
vent others from
fulfilling their wide to his advice line. The book tells about how to predict, resist, challenge and
duties.”
Tim Field
combat workplace bullying. The first part of the book seeks to define what a bully
is and the second part offers suggestions to the challenges and how to combat
workplace bullying. Tim Field stresses that Workplace Bullying is very serious and
Whistleblowers Australia
have a web-site at can have long term negative effects on the targets of the Bully. Tim Field brought
http://www.uow.edu.au/ attention to the problem of school playground bullying and its serious effects on
arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/
children. He pointed out in his web site that long term Bullying can cause psychiat-
ric injury and can lead to Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and even suicide.

2. Page 2 Medical Whistleblower’s Canary Notes Volume 1 Issue 2
Do you recognize these Bullying Behaviors?
Falsely accused someone of "errors" not actually made
Stared, glared, was nonverbally intimidating and was clearly showing hostility
Discounted the person's thoughts or feelings ("oh, that's silly") in meetings
Used the "silent treatment" to "ice out" & separate from others
Exhibited presumably uncontrollable mood swings in front of the group
Made up own rules on the fly that even she/he did not follow
Disregarded satisfactory or exemplary quality of completed work despite evidence
Harshly and constantly criticized having a different 'standard' for the Target
Started, or failed to stop, destructive rumors or gossip about the person
Encouraged people to turn against the person being tormented
“Bully targets at
Singled out and isolated one person from co-workers, either socially or physically
work are not
always the Publicly displayed "gross," undignified, but not illegal, behavior
introverted loners Yelled, screamed, threw tantrums in front of others to humiliate a person
of the Stole credit for work done by others
playground. They Abused the evaluation process by lying about the person's performance
are often bright,
Criticized "insubordinate" for failing to follow arbitrary commands
social people.
They are well- Used confidential information about a person to humiliate privately or publicly
liked and Retaliated against the person after a complaint was filed
respected, good Made verbal put-downs/insults based on gender, race, accent or language, disability
at their jobs and Assigned undesirable work as punishment
typically have a Made undoable demands-- workload, deadlines, duties -- for person singled out
strong sense of
Launched a baseless campaign to oust the person and not stopped by the employer
ethics and
justice.” Encouraged the person to quit or transfer rather than to face more mistreatment
Sabotaged the person's contribution to a team goal and reward
RADHA CHITALE Ensured failure of person's project by not performing required tasks: signoffs, taking calls,
ABC News working with collaborators
Public screaming, Illegal verbal tactics
Post-complaint retaliation The Workplace Bullying
Denied training or time to succeed in new job Institute (USA) is a non-
profit organization founded
Sabotaging a person's contribution
and coordinated by Drs.
Timing mistreatment to correspond with medical or psych
Gary and Ruth Namie.
vulnerability
Withholding resources for success, then blaming the target Go to http://
www.bullyinginstitute.org/
Name calling
Uninvited invasion of office space & scrutiny of e-mails Case consultation available by
Drs. Namie (360) 656-6630
Engaging in physical sexual aggression
Admin@bullyinginstitute.org
Threatening job loss, punishment
namie@bullyinginstitute.org
Interfering with paycheck or earned benefits

3. Medical Whistleblower’s Canary Notes Volume 1 Issue 2 Page 3
What is the profile of the typical bully?
Tim Field: 90% of the cases reported to the UK National Workplace Bullying
Advice Line involve a serial bully who can be recognized by their behavior profile
which includes compulsive lying, a Jekyll and Hyde nature, an unusually high verbal
facility, charm and a considerable capacity to deceive, an arrested level of emotional
development, and a compulsive need to control. The serial bully rarely commits a
physical assault or an arrestable offence, preferring instead to remain within the realms
of psychological violence and non-arrestable offences.
“The purpose of
What are Bullying’s typical outcomes? bullying is to hide
the inadequacy of
Tim Field: In the majority of cases, the target of bullying is eliminated through the bully and has
nothing to do with
forced resignation, unfair dismissal, or early or ill- health retirement whilst the bully is "management" or
the achievement
promoted. After a short interval of between 2-14 days, the bully selects another target of tasks. Bullies
project their
and the cycle restarts. Sometimes another target is selected before the current target is inadequacies onto
others to distract
eliminated. and divert
attention away
How often does Bullying occur? from the
inadequacies”
Tim Field: Surveys of bullying in the UK indicate that between 12-50% of the
workforce experience bullying. Statistics from the UK National Workplace Bullying Tim Field
Advice Line reveal that around 20% of cases are from the education sector, 12% are
from healthcare, 10% are from social services, and around 6% from the voluntary /
charity / not-for-profit sector. After that, calls come from all sectors both public and
private, with finance, media, police, postal workers and other government employees
featuring prominently. The workers in the caring professions (such as medical pro-
fessionals) were on the top of the list of bullied workers.

4. The Target of the Bully:
Medical Whistleblower
By standard criteria of job performance, the target is at
least average, probably above average.
Dr. Janet Parker Rumors and gossip circulate about the target’s misdeeds:
P.O. Box C “Did you hear what she did last week?”
Lawrence, KS 66044
The target is not invited to meetings or voted onto
Phone: 360-809-3058 committees, is excluded or excludes self.
Fax: None
E-mail: MedicalWhistleblower@gmail.com
Those involved in bullying behavior share the conviction that the
target needs some kind of formal punishment, “to be taught a
We are on the Web! lesson.”
MedicalWhistleblower.googlepages.com
They use emotion-laden, defamatory rhetoric about the target in
oral and written communications. The target is seen as personally
abhorrent, with no redeeming qualities; stigmatizing, exclusionary
labels are applied.
Supporting the Emotional Health of all Whistleblowers
and their friends, supporters and families.
The bullies use formal expressions of collective negative sentiment
toward the target, like a vote of censure, signatures on a petition,
meeting to discuss what to do about the target.
The Problem of Workplace Violence
Bureau of Justice Statistics 2001
1.7 million workers are injured each year during workplace assaults
Violent workplace incidents account for 18% of all violent crimes
Each year there are 807 workplace homicides
Hospital Workers are at High Risk
“Bullying is
psychological vio-
Hospital Risk Factors: Long waits for service, Overcrowding, Lack of staff training
lence” Dr. Gary
Namie, Director of
and policies for dealing with potentially volatile patients, Drug and Alcohol Abuse,
the Workplace Bully-
ing Institute (WBI)
in Bellingham, WA, Inadequate security, Working Alone
and author of
“The Bully at Work.” Typology of Violence:
I. Criminal Intent - 85% of workplace homicides fall into this category
www.bullyinginstitute.org
PO Box 29915, II: Customer/client - 3% of all workplace homicides.
Bellingham, WA 98228
360-656-6630 III: Worker-on-worker - 7% of all workplace homicides.
IV: Personal relationship - 5% of all workplace homicides.