Causes of Verbal Abuse in the Workplace

• Verbal abuse in the workplace shares many of the same causes as abuse at home, such as animal abuse, domestic abuse or child abuse. Causes of verbal abuse can include a perpetrator’s substance abuse, financial or emotional stressors, or a mental illness such as an anxiety disorder or clinical depression. A chaotic, high-pressure work environment where workers constantly fear loosing their jobs can also be a breeding ground for verbal abuse, since perpetrators may see verbal abuse as a way to regain control in an otherwise unpredicatable environment. Also, cramped or uncomfortable working conditions may trigger acts of verbal abuse.
  
  

Utah Anti-Harassment Laws

• In 2006, the governor of Utah made an executive order that required the Utah Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) to establish rules to govern unlawful harassment in the workplace. Typically, most actionable claims for verbal abuse in the workplace under Utah’s anti-harassment law stem from verbal abuse that creates an unlawful hostile work environment. The verbal abuse must be based on an employee’s protected class (religion, national origin, age, race, color, sex or disability) and pursuant to the DHRM, “must be sufficiently severe, persistent, pervasive and objectively offensive as to alter the conditions of an employee’s employment and create an abusive working environment…generally, a single incident, comment or other isolated incident will not be enough to create a hostile work environment.”
  
  

Utah Healthy Workplace Bill

• As of publication, Utah's Legislature had introduced the Healthy Workplace Bill but had not yet enacted it into law. The Feb. 10, 2011, version of the bill provides that Utah employers must adopt a policy against an abusive workplace that would offer protection against verbal abuse as well as other types of workplace bullying. The bill broadens the definition of an abusive workplace beyond physical violence to include the repeated infliction of verbal abuse and threatening, humiliating or intimidating verbal conduct.
  
  

Find an Attorney

• If you have been verbally abused at work, then you should first report the incident to either your boss or your company’s human resources manager. If neither of them takes action to resolve the issue, then you should contact an attorney licensed to practice law in Utah with significant experience in employment and labor law. Your attorney can help you examine the viability of your claim and whether legal recourse is an option.