Incivility in the workplace has gotten worse in the past ten years and is more prevalent than the illegal forms of harassment we’ve learned about elsewhere in the text. Bullying is a recurring behavior that can include yelling, intimidation, humiliation, or sabotage. Although workers who are bullied on the basis of their race, religion, sex, or other protected status can fight back through civil rights laws, at present there is no law to protect all employees from hostile treatment in the workplace. Workplace incivility is a more general term to describe discourteous, rude, or demeaning behavior, which can sometimes escalate to workplace violence—violent acts, assaults, and physical threats directed toward employees.

Supervisors should address problem behaviors immediately before they escalate and work closely with the HR department to connect individuals who are behaving in dangerous ways to seek help to deal with personal issues that are contributing to such behavior. p-635