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Home›Courses›Safety Training›Workplace Dynamics: Bullying and Boundaries

Workplace Dynamics: Bullying and Boundaries

20 minutesEN / ES / MLCCSafety TrainingTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act, ADA, ADEA (when bullying involves protected characteristics)
Quick Answer

Workplace Dynamics: Bullying and Boundaries is a 20-minute online course that teaches employees how to recognize workplace bullying behaviors, establish professional boundaries, and understand the reporting options available to them under federal and state workplace protections. It is designed for employees at all levels and includes a downloadable certificate of completion.

Course Overview

The Workplace Bullying Institute estimates that 30% of American workers have been directly bullied at work, and an additional 19% have witnessed it. Bullying behaviors - including verbal abuse, intimidation, sabotage, and exclusion - create hostile work environments that drive turnover, reduce productivity, and expose employers to legal liability. While no federal law specifically prohibits workplace bullying, bullying that targets a protected characteristic can constitute illegal harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the ADA, or the ADEA. Several states and municipalities have enacted or proposed workplace bullying legislation.

This course helps your employees understand the difference between difficult workplace interactions and bullying, recognize the various forms bullying can take, and learn practical strategies for establishing and maintaining professional boundaries. Your team will also learn the reporting options available to them and the employer's role in preventing and responding to bullying behavior.

What You'll Learn

  • Defining workplace bullying and distinguishing it from legitimate management actions
  • Recognizing verbal, physical, social, and cyberbullying behaviors in the workplace
  • The psychological and organizational impact of unchecked bullying on employees and teams
  • Practical strategies for establishing and maintaining professional boundaries
  • Reporting options and internal complaint procedures
  • The employer's legal obligations to maintain a workplace free from harassment and hostility
  • State-level workplace bullying legislation and emerging legal trends

Who Needs This Training

  • All employees as part of workplace conduct and anti-harassment training programs
  • Managers and supervisors responsible for maintaining respectful work environments
  • HR professionals who receive and investigate complaints of workplace misconduct
  • New employees learning organizational conduct expectations during onboarding
  • Team leads in high-pressure environments where bullying behaviors are more common
  • Employees in industries with hierarchical structures, such as healthcare and construction

Regulatory Background

While no federal statute specifically prohibits workplace bullying, employers face significant legal exposure when bullying involves protected characteristics. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act all prohibit harassment that creates a hostile work environment based on race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, or age. The EEOC received 88,531 discrimination charges in FY 2024, with harassment claims remaining among the most common allegations. Retaliation - often triggered when employees report bullying - accounted for over 47% of all EEOC charges. Several states, including California and Tennessee, have enacted legislation addressing abusive conduct in the workplace, and additional states continue to introduce workplace bullying bills each legislative session.

Frequently Asked Questions

There is no standalone federal law that prohibits workplace bullying. However, when bullying behavior targets an employee based on a protected characteristic such as race, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability, it can constitute illegal harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the ADA, or the ADEA. Employers can be held liable for a hostile work environment if they knew or should have known about the conduct and failed to take prompt corrective action.
Legitimate management includes setting performance expectations, providing constructive feedback, making work assignments, and taking disciplinary action in accordance with company policy. Bullying, by contrast, involves repeated, unreasonable behavior directed at an employee that creates a risk to health and safety, including verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, humiliation, and work sabotage. The key distinctions are the pattern of behavior, the intent or effect, and whether the conduct serves a legitimate business purpose.
California's AB 2053 requires employers with 50 or more employees to include abusive conduct prevention in their mandatory harassment training. Tennessee's Healthy Workplace Act provides protections for employees of the state government. Several other states, including New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia, have introduced workplace bullying legislation in recent sessions. Employers should monitor their state's legislative activity for emerging requirements.
Employees should document the behavior with dates, times, locations, witnesses, and specific descriptions of what occurred. They should report the behavior through their employer's internal complaint process, typically to their supervisor, HR department, or through a designated reporting mechanism. If the bullying involves a protected characteristic, employees may also file a charge with the EEOC or their state's fair employment agency.
When bullying behavior targets a protected characteristic, employers can face hostile work environment claims under federal anti-discrimination laws. Employers who lack anti-bullying policies, fail to train their workforce, or fail to investigate and address reported bullying are at greater risk of liability. Proactive training and clear reporting procedures help employers demonstrate reasonable care in preventing and correcting harassment, which can serve as an affirmative defense in litigation.

Part of These Training Packages

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Related Courses

Employers building comprehensive workplace conduct programs often pair this course with Workplace Harassment: Awareness and Prevention and Workplace Violence training to address the full spectrum of inappropriate workplace behaviors. The Workplace Compliance (HR) bundle includes bullying, harassment, violence, substance abuse, and discrimination training at a volume discount.

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$24.95
per person
Volume Pricing
Team Size Price per Person
1 - 9$24.95
10 - 24$19.95
25 - 49$17.95
50 - 99$17.50
Subtotal $24.95
Language

This course is available in English, Spanish, and Multi-Language CC at no additional charge.

Certificate of completion included. Downloadable upon passing the final assessment.

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$24.95
per person