Using profanity and aiming profanity laced tirades at employees are two completely different things. I am astounded that they are using that as a defense..

Berating employees is simply unnacceptable in any circumstance.

Using profanity and screaming at employees is unacceptable period.

It makes me wonder about two areas of interest to me.

1. Did she fit the job?

2. Did the manager fit the job?

Something is obviously wrong here and the symptom is the unacceptable behavior.

An FBI paper on Workplace Violence says, “It is the threats, harassment, bullying, domestic violence, stalking, emotional abuse, intimidation, and other forms of behavior and physical violence that, if left unchecked, may result in more serious violent behavior.” (At www.fbi.gov/publications/violence.pdf.)

Apart from the risk that bullying and abuse may lead to physical violence, such abuse undermines employee morale, productivity, and customer service, according to Professors Bennett J. Tepper of Georgia State University, Kelly Zellars of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Michelle Duffy of the University of Kentucky.

I totally agree with the previous posts.

“If you permit it, you promote it.”

Guys,
I think you’re missing the point here. While I am the first person to say that bullying & screaming don’t belong in the workplace - the suit is claiming disparate treatment - that she was treated “DIFFERENTLY” because of gender and DISH is claiming - NO she wasn’t treated differently - everyone was screamed at. Stupid culture, great legal team.

I would think it would follow under a hostile work environment although I am not familiar with succesful case law.

so if everyone is sexually harassed, aren’t they concerned about a “class-action” law suit? I agree, this will be interesting.

Makes me want to change my satellite provider. I do not want to support an organization that would defend such behavior.

It’s not sexual harassment. It’s bad management and violates company policy, but it’s not harassment. It’’s not a hostile environment case either, which would require that the abuse be because of an employee’s status in a protected class.

As customers, if we don’t like the way the Dish Network treats their employees, we can buy our satellite television from another company. If they don’t have a company to run they won’t have employees to belittle and berate.

This saddens me and reopens some old wounds. I had an abusive manager. I went to HR with very vivid stories. The head of HR had gotten help from my boss to get her job there. See a problem here fo rme? She did not open a report or follow up in any way. “‘See no evil, hear no evil, correct no evil” prevailed there.
I have been forced into early retirement, no longer have my job. My old boss continues to intimidate me, sends me invoices for items he has now decided I owe money to his organization. I have engaged an attorney. I am afraid to act as this man lives 2 miles from my house. I had to sell my condo related to the job loss and now live in an apartment with no security system.
I hope as responsible business people we can somehow create a shift away from acceptance of such practices.

I worked for these people and they are REALLY F*CKED UP! I left after about a year of repeated abuse from supervisors. I was written up for going to the bathroom. I was also told to come in on a day when it was a state of emergency and there was snow on the roads. I’m glad someone finally spoke up.

It may be a legally defensible agrument, but it is a bad choice from a recruitment and retention prospective. When you apply for a job, would you consider working for the company that says verbal abuse is our culture? If you work there today, would you want to stay at the company that thinks this woman’s treatment was acceptable?

In the technical or financial services industry, this conduct with execs is routine. It contradicts the values a company purports to “live by.” But we all know, the exec with the unacceptable behavior meets their business objectives, delivers on their deadlines, and makes the company money. They’re untouchable and the abusive behavior is rewarded.

I agree with Jim and Marie. Among employment attorneys, there is often talk of the so-called “equal opportunity jerk”. No one is defending a manager or management style like this. It’s just that the company’s legal team doubtless looked at a tough fact situation and determined that the best strategy was to point out that the plaintiff was not singled out for bad treatment - everyone suffered more or less the same. Rest assured - eventually, the company will have to reform its work environment, or else the turnover, morale, and productivity problems will drag it down.

This Lord of the Flies/Bullpen work environment reflects violence in the workplace. When a person not conditioned to emotional battery is frequently confronted by a loud, raging, out of control person — it is disorienting. The unconditioned-to-verbal-abuse persons feels like a helpless victim, especially when management does nothing or takes the side of the bully. I work for the federal government and have for 28 years. There is a former military personnel that chooses to have his way by roaring in an intimidating way and his superiors condone it. He finally went too far. He took out his ill-temper on the security guards when they made him go back through the metal detectors. The chief of security had his way, reported him to the Secretary and his future is dismal. I totally believe these types need psycho-analysis, anger management and maybe some bi-polar meds.\\

Tami asks ‘When you apply for a job, would you consider working for the company that says verbal abuse is our culture? If you work there today, would you want to stay at the company…?’ Sometimes, people don’t feel they have a choice.
My medium size Midwestern town has had a tough economy over the last 10 years. Good jobs have a way of going away, here. Tami’s question reminds me of a local employer who offered a decent percentage of the well-paid professional jobs here. They used to explain in interviews that profanity and verbal abuse was ABSOLUTELY a part of their culture and anyone uncomfortable with that kind of pressure should not accept a position. One man accepted such position and a great deal of responsibility. He was advancing well, but under a great deal of strain from the demands of the job and the expectations of his peers and superiors, who were never expected to display any restraint in their communications.
During one particularly difficult summer afternoon, his wife called from their daycare center and asked him where their 18 month old child was, since the baby had never been dropped off that morning, as the man was supposed to do. He ran to his car, but it was too late. The child had died of heat stroke. The man pled guilty to charges and publicly confessed he was under so much pressure he just forgot. I don’t remember what the penalty was, but I cannot imagine it could be anything worse than living with the knowledge that you had caused the death of your child.
Perhaps proclaiming you have a macho, rough and tumble culture excuses you from some legal obligations. One wonders if it excuses you from all requirements of human decency…

I’d often wondered what I’d do if someone stepped to me that way. I’d probably space my thumb and forefinger an inch apart, hold them up and tell said bully, “You’re about this far from me dropping your punk ass.”

Or perhaps I’d say, “How’s about we go out into the parking lot and settle this like men?”

Sure, I’d probably lose my gig, ’cause I’m not gonna be bluffing. At 48 years of age, I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let someone talk to me that way without issuing a challenge of my own.

Screw ‘em.

I can relate to many of these stories. I was pushed out as a top producer in Sales by a Boss and Team who lived by Cut Throat Behavior. Did not want any harmony but loved dissention in the workplace and helped make it happen — 6 months of abusive verbal behavior. Who hurt me? One of the people in Technical Sales who was/is a top producer. What later one hears is the same story. They can push you out, try to blackball you even if you never resorted to HR. As they say in Corporate America, if it’’s not verbal too bad.

I did switch my satellite provider. Hope a lot of people follow suit and let Dish know why you left.

Lets boycott Dish. Simple as that…the customer base has the FINAL word on whether a bad business actually stays in business. Does Dish do its thing here in Canada too?? No matter let’s boycott (them) my American compadres!

I had an SVP who decided she didn’t like the suggestions I was making to improve performance in her area and started telling people that I was not fullfilling a project. When we delivered everything on the project plan, and there was nothing for her to complain about, she waited until we were in a meeting and while I was making a comment (that was actually in support of her idea) she stood up pounded on the table and loudly screamed various irrational things.

I am currently working for a small (120 employees) owner-operated company with an environment similar to that of DISH. It is difficult to explain why we stay here–except that the pay for some of us is higher than we would receive anywhere else. Other individuals believe that they would not be able to do better if they went somewhere else. And probably, there’s truth to that.
How do we ‘reward’ the boss who screams at, swears at and abuses us? We do our work, but without enthusiasm. We look to blame others when things go wrong. We refuse to stretch out, take initiative or cooperate with others. There is no unity in leadership. Tempers run unchecked. We spend time planning our exit or gathering evidence for a lawsuit…
I will be interested to learn how the DISH case pans out, because I have worked for more than one tyrant. \

The question I have is: How long has “verbal abuse” been the accepted culture?
During the hiring process, are prospective employees made aware of the “accepted culture?” If they are, does this mean they have made a contractual agreement of accepting employment knowing they will be subjected to “workplace verbal abuse?”
Turning the page on these questions, my first thoughts are of course with the formal leadership of the organization.
How is this culture affecting productivity, systems improvement, financial performance, the ability to hire and retain good people, the ongoing engagement and commitment of employees to the vision and goals of Dish Network?
Leaders or those we place into formal leadership positions, are responsible for facilitating understanding in the organization. Karl Weick (1979) speaks of this as Sensemaking.
Formal leaders’ influencing role in Sensemaking is:
1. To set the social relations that are encouraged and discouraged
2. To set the identities that are valued or derogated within the organization (Weick,2008).
So, what is it saying for these Leaders, if they have encouraged the social relations of “verbal abuse?”
Is the Dish Network Identity one of “little respect for the value of human interaction?”
Another concept of Sensemaking for Leaders is to facilitate “Respectful Interaction: trust, trustworthiness, and self-respect”
In other words, the Leadership of Dish Network and those who accept to stay in this environment may not possess self-respect. If they don’t possess it, how can they give it to others?
Living within this type of environment is toxic to our humanity, both within and without the business environment.
How will Dish Network’s organizational culture change even if the Leadership doesn’t intend to change it? The article in Rocky Mountain News has possibly started a RADICAL CHANGE EVENT from an external source moving within and into the organization.
Radical events can be one large scale action through an external event or an internal event OR a series of small events occurring in rapid succession creating radical change (Plowman et al. 2008)
If Dish Network were going to change its culture, despite the formal Leadership, it will be done through employee action, one at time in a continuous process that would allow for a Radical Impact for change to occur.

More and more states are passing Anti-Bullying Healthy Workplace Bills because of companies that are allowing this harassing behavior.

Too bad Colorado does not have a bill in place (that I can find). It would probably have been a better defense for the fired/harassed worker

States that have passed legislation on workplace bullying:
http://www.bullyfreeworkplace.org/id7.html

A woman at work flashed a new hire in her office. When the new hire complained, HR investigated the new hire and fired the new person a year later explaining that it was the new hire’s fault for not being tolerant of the flasher’s behavior. And, that the flasher was excused for her behavior because she was young and “had no shame”. Sounds like this HR department had the same legal counsel.

Apparently this is the social norm at this company and it was the new hire’s fault to not have found a company that “met her values”. Note the potential interviewee…ask if there are stripper outings and if it’s mandatory?

I suggest the flasher be an equal opportunity harasser and flash everyone at new hire orientations.

GREAT BLOG.

Dish Network has a valid defense. If its attorneys can prove that the manager was a jerk to everyone, then no disparate treatment occurred. It doesn’t sound like she’s got a strong case for gender discrimination if the fact that he called her a “b****” is her only argument for it. If it can be shown that he treated everyone badly, all that can be proven is that Dish Network is a bad place to work.

It is incredible there must be much more of this in the workplace than is talked about. One reason may be exactly because of what the defense attorney’s say… the whole organization is abusive. I worked for a terribly abusive man and there was really no where to complain.everyone knew he did it..he targeted a different person and everyone just hoped it wasn’t them. But eventually it was them. He found ways to threaten to hold back careers, trash people’s career’s, and clearly discriminated against women. But NO ONE CARED in the big picture.. He is still there and I left.

I thought this kind of thing happened only in manufacturing! I worked for a company that the VP would intimidate the managers by swearing and/or arguing loudly, making sure they knew he was the boss. if the end of month numbers werent met, for what ever reason, people knew their jobs were on the line. it just seemed like there has to be a better way to give people respect and still make the bottom line….i work in a different organization now and i am amazed when people actually are nice to me, and like their jobs!

Q. What do great business practices, the Golden Rule and harassment have in common?

As disturbing as this case is, I can’t help but see the upside in the fact that the abuse was overt (vs. covert). It’s generating necessary attention that hopefully will have lasting effects beyond the outcome of legal chess. At least all of us in the HR community across the nation, get to hear about it and take some kind of action. Whether it be as consumers, legislatively, or simply to “up” our own standards and drive that standard 360 degrees in our places of business. All abuse is wrong, every time, no matter what the volley of the week in court happens to be. Although we may never be able to fully wipe out harassment, that’s no excuse to lessen our efforts. Treating people well, is good business.

Personally, I feel strongly about taking this subject up a notch or too. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather deal with a problem before it becomes the size of Godzilla and is eating at the top of the Empire State building. But addressing harassment at a much earlier stage is a grey and murky pond to fish in unfortunately. Abuse/harassment often begins on barely discernable scale – an attitude, a remark or gossip on the grapevine. When’s the last time you saw the company gossip monger disciplined for their behavior? Under what policy? Probably never happened. “Zero tolerance” policies theoretically should include zero tolerance for the grapevine gang too.

No matter what my stated yearly objectives are, my top priority remains the same year after year, no matter who my boss is and what the market is doing. It is timeless and unchanging – the Golden Rule. As cliché as that may sound, read on. There is no greater priority.

Despite state and federal employment laws, case law shows us that harassment is still thriving some where, some how. The ridiculously overt cases like at Dish Network get all the press and represent a total breakdown societal norms. In my experience, it’s the harassment we don’t easily see that has the greatest impact of all. Covert harassment is the silent but deadly evil step sister. It starts small and casts a wider net. It’s also impossible to accurately measure, harder to prove and has often shackles the victim in a no-win situation that they’ll endure much longer than they would if the abuse were widely visible.

Aside from the bottom line, harassment delivers its payload to other notable destinations too. This itinerary includes some lengthy visits to the mental, emotional, and physical health stations of the individual. And it doesn’t end there. What about the people in victim’s circle of influence? What magical memories do you think this trip has in store for those kids and spouses who are along for the ride? Suffering wears many masks and takes many forms.

From a leadership perspective and tactically speaking, HR is charged with many daunting responsibilities. What we do or don’t do, what we say or fail to say is a cause set in motion; good or bad; little or large – in business and out into the personal lives of others. That’s where the Golden Rule comes in – this is the place where our influence really counts. You can write the greatest policies, develop the best programs and hit your all your targets consistently. That’s all great, but big deal. Business changes, priorities flip and on the continuum of life, you probably won’t even be remembered for it a year or two from now. People only truly remember the personal, but timeless things, like how they were treated.

Long ago, I witnessed a tragic case that began through a series of small and seemingly petty acts. A smart, upbeat and ambitious guy was hired in a manufacturing job. A little threatened by the new guy, the co-workers responsible for training withheld lots of little, yet critical information necessary for task mastery. The first goal was to make the guy look stupid. The harassers instigated conditions that not only caused the new guy to make mistakes, but put him in harms way from a safety standpoint. All the while they stoked the fire with their gossip and remarks to anyone who would listen, basically rallying support. The new guy had a tremendous work ethic and worked harder and longer in an effort to over come the situation. He had no options with a family to support and the job market at the time. He put on his game face because he couldn’t quit, and he couldn’t win either. Only he didn’t know it at the time. From the outside looking in, the harassment continued over time at what appeared to be about the same velocity. It differed only by the creativeness of the perpetrators day to day, yet never hit the radar screen of management in a meaningful way.

However, the impact on his life was anything but static. The stress first attacked his mental and emotional health. Insomnia, depression, feelings of worthlessness. Simultaneously, the long hours, tiredness and irritability had devastating effects on his children and marriage. Next went his physical health.
Things escalated and he couldn’t focus and finish tasks as well. No one knew if it was the stress, the medication, or a combination thereof. He basically began to sort of shut down. When this man’s family left him, it pushed him over the edge. He just stopped getting up in the mornings. Next to go was his job and finally his life.

A. Timeless things shape the future.