Call to Action // Healthy Workplace Bill

TSEA March 31, 2014 Comments Off on Call to Action // Healthy Workplace Bill
Call to Action // Healthy Workplace Bill

The Healthy Workplace Bill (HB1981/SB2226), which is making its way through the legislature, was recently amended to include all public employees. TSEA is supporting this bill, as it is a step in the right direction to combat the type of harassment that many state employees witness or experience themselves in the workplace.

State employees need to have a policy in place that will discipline workplace harassment, and the Healthy Workplace Bill seeks to establish the necessary protocol to do so. Presently, there is nowhere for state employees to turn if they experience forms of workplace harassment and mistreatment such as humiliation, intimidation, verbal abuse, or work sabotage.

Please call or email the members of the committees listed below and ask them to vote YES on this bill.

Your message should be simple:

“I am ________ and I work the Department/Agency of ________.  I have seen/experienced/know of this type of harassment in my workplace as a public employee. It is a problem that needs to be addressed, and I feel this bill will help stop the behavior and hold the abuser responsible. Please vote YES on this bill when it is before you in committee.”

Present harassment law only applies to federally protected classes, and this bill will simply require all government employers to develop a policy to address harassment, intimidation, and abuse in the workplace. While a policy does not deter bad conduct, it does give managers the tools to act and discipline an abuser accordingly. Please take a moment to call or email the members of these committees and urge them to support this bill for the sake of state employees.


Who you need to contact

The House Local Government Committee meets tomorrow, April 1st at 12:00 PM. Click on the Committee link below to see a list of the committee members and access their contact information:

House Local Government Committee

The Senate Commerce & Labor Committee will act on the bill once action is taken in the House, but it important to contact those members now. Click on the Committee link below to see a list of the committee members and access their contact information:

Senate Commerce & Labor Committee


For more information on this movement to end workplace harassment, please visit: 

http://www.healthyworkplacebill.org/

You can also sign this online petition of support for the bill, which will be delivered directly to Governor Haslam, Lt. Gov. Ramsey, and Speaker Harwell: 

MoveOn.org Stop Workplace Bullying in Tennessee