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Document Type

Symposium

Abstract

(Excerpt)

This Article provides a blueprint for how Congress can accept Justice Ginsburg’s challenge to protect workers, particularly in precarious economic times when employees cannot easily switch jobs and in an era in which the vast majority of workers do not have the protection of a collective bargaining agreement. Not only should Congress redefine “supervisor,” but Congress should also consider a related underlying factor that was not raised in the Vance case—the issue of workplace bullying. If workplace bullying were a viable cause of action, Maetta Vance likely would have prevailed in a state that entitled her to relief because she could have added that claim to her federal discrimination and hostile work environment claims. Vance is just one of an estimated thirty-seven million victims—twenty-seven percent of the U.S. workforce—of this pervasive problem. The problem extends far beyond the reach of Title VII—indeed, most bullying is same sex—and only twenty percent of bullying cases could also pass muster as cognizable harassment claims. The problem is so serious that legislators in twenty-eight states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands introduced bills to ban bullying in the workplace and provide remedies for its victims.

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