Handling a Hostile Work Environment

A toxic work environment can destroy a company’s culture. It has a wide-ranging negative impact on work performance and morale. Workplace bullying, sexual harassment, and other forms of mistreatment can affect your well-being outside of work as well. This can lead to burnout.

Hostile behavior at work can negatively affect your mental and physical health. Knowing when offensive conduct creates a hostile workplace is essential. If you’re being harassed at work, speaking with an employment law attorney is critical. They can explain the law and guide you to a resolution to the situation.

What Is a Hostile Work Environment?

Your workplace isn’t always pleasant. Most of us have dealt with unpleasant coworkers or overbearing bosses. We all have tasks we don’t like doing. However, isolated incidents and petty slights aren’t enough to create a hostile workplace. Instead, the offensive behavior must be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to reasonable people.

When does inappropriate behavior move from mere annoyance to hostile behavior? Hostile work environments are a result of illegal harassment at work. Illegal workplace harassment is unwelcome conduct directed at you. In many cases, harassment happens to workers due to discrimination. Federal law defines the following protected classes for purposes of discrimination:

• Race, color, and national origin
• Religion
• Gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity
• Disability
• Pregnancy
• Age
• Genetic information

So, you may have a claim if your boss or coworkers are harassing you based on one of these characteristics. Examples include offensive jokes or slurs connected to your race or religion. Offensive social media posts by your team members can also contribute to a toxic environment.

How Do I Know if I’m in a Hostile Work Environment?

It takes more than a personality conflict to make a toxic work environment. It must be so bad that a reasonable person would think it’s hostile. So, how do you know if your workplace has crossed that line? Following are some signs of a hostile work environment:

• You’re in an environment of intimidation, bullying, or harassment
• Your managers excessively criticize you
• You’re excluded from meetings or social events
• Your managers retaliate against you when you try to stand up for yourself
• You experience hostile communication, like offensive jokes
• You are subjected to sexual harassment that no one will do anything about
• You’re denied opportunities for training and advancement
• The corporate culture has fear and anxiety ingrained in it

Keep in mind, however: You must be able to prove that something like “excessive criticism” actually is criticism. Would any reasonable employee find that criticism to be excessive? Likewise, simply losing out on a promotion to a coworker who is more qualified does not mean you are in a hostile environment.

What Can I Do if I’m in a Hostile Work Environment?

Your employer should have an anti-harassment policy. To have a hostile work environment claim, your boss must know of the harassment and refuse to address it. So, a good first step is to follow your company policy and report the harassment. You’ll likely need to report it to your company’s human resources department.

If your HR department does not take your complaint seriously, you can complain to a federal or state agency. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces anti-discrimination laws. You can also file a complaint with the state agency where you live.

The EEOC or state agency will attempt to resolve the matter for you. If they are unsuccessful, you may have to file a lawsuit to assert your rights. If you quit your job because the work culture was so toxic, you can still sue, because your quitting is considered a “constructive dismissal.”

A successful claim or lawsuit could mean back pay or getting your job back.

Contact an Employment Law Attorney for Help

You shouldn’t have to tolerate a toxic workplace. Workplace hostility can lead to dissatisfaction and harm your mental health. Employment laws protect your rights as an employee. An employment attorney in your area can provide legal advice. They can help you take legal action against your employer.