Connecticut State Senator Edith Prague is pushing for an anti-bullying law that would make employers liable for managers who bully their employees with verbal abuse, offensive conduct and by sabatoging their work. She also wants to extend workers’ compensation benefits to people who suffer from work-related stress.
That’s an ambitious goal, which is being opposed by businesses in Connecticut.
Prague says she will also push for passage of a bill designed to provide workers’ compensation benefits for people who suffer work-related emotional stress.
Prague relates the story of a woman who witnessed the stabbing death of a fellow social worker. She was unable to return to work, yet could not obtain workers compensation benefits or funds for counseling.
Kia Murrell, assistant counsel for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association told the Connecticut Business News Journal that her group opposes the bill “because there are too many people with mental and emotional issues who could claim their disorders are related to the workplace when they are not.”
“This bill lowers the standard of proof so low that almost anyone can get over it,” she says. “It opens the door wide for rampant abuse and misuse.”
