Investigation into the Definition and Legislation of Workplace Bullying in 23 States

Abstract

This study addressed three issues in the current anti-workplace bullying legislation in South Korea: confusion over what constitutes bullying, misplaced emphasis in the related policies, and a lack of a system to monitor employer compliance. In order to draw implications for ways to overcome these issues, the legislation and policies of 23 states (15 countries and 8 Canadian and US states) were examined. The elements in their definition of workplace bullying and their emphasis on the law were analyzed. The cases of countries with employer monitoring policies were also addressed. According to the results, 20 states are using at least one objective criteria (duration or frequency) to determine bullying. South Korea, among the countries with legal penalties, is the only country without objective criteria. In order to conduct the analysis based on the emphasis of the law (prevention-focused vs. remedy-focused), four countries were selected for analysis. Norway and Belgium were prevention-focused. Australia and Ireland were remedy-focused. Norway and Belgium provided practical implications for training and using experts and building employer monitoring systems. The cases of Australia and Ireland revealed the limitations of remedy-focused policies and provided implications for preventing false claims. This study discussed how to apply the implications to the Korean setting and made suggestions for further research.