What may offend one employee may but written off as good-natured joshing by another
How do you quantify bullying? What may offend one employee may but written off as good-natured joshing by another. A recent report from Dr Judy Blando and the University of Phoenix found that 75% of workers have been affected by bullying at some point in their career.
But does something as off the cuff as an eye roll or a sarcastic tone of voice count as bullying?
We spoke to Daryl Cukierman, partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and speaker at our upcoming Employment Law Masterclass, on the contentious issue.
“It is possible,” explained Cukierman. “However, in my opinion, I think it would need to be connected to more obvious cases of bullying. If it was part of an emerging pattern of related conduct, then I’d say so.”
Workplace harassment in Ontario is defined as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome”. So, could that be a sarcastic remark?
“Typically, the conduct will happen more than once for it to be found to be bullying or harassment”, added Cukierman. “Having said that, that’s not always the case. It could be a one-off situation where one instance is enough to be considered abusive and unacceptable. Although, in that sense, it would involve a more severe issue; such as an incident of sexual harassment or an unwelcome advance.
“Essentially, whilst something like an eye roll or a sarcastic tone of voice could easily fall into the category of bullying, particularly in the verbal abuse category, in my view it would need to be tied to repeated conduct.”
Meaning, if it’s not repeated conduct, then certainly other related behaviors or ques like sneering or glaring or staring colleagues down would need to be accounted for too.
“When looked at together, as a collective, you could come to the conclusion that it’s bullying behaviour. However, as a one-off instance on its own it would be a difficult argument to sustain.”