Is jealous back-biting illegal harassment? 06-15-2005

We have a departmental problem. Jealous and insecure co-workers are giving the new person a bad time, including back-stabbing, spreading incorrect information, non-invitations to get-togethers with other employees. We believe this is a perfect example of emotional harassment. What can we do and what is our level of liability after we have been informed on numerous times of this behavior?

Rita Risser replies:

Harassment laws do not prohibit petty, jealous behavior. However, as an employer, you want to keep good employees, you want a productive environment and you want to work in a pleasant place. You need to decide if the petty employees are worth keeping, or whether you want to discipline them, up to and including termination. As long as you put the offending employees on notice of what is appropriate behavior, you can terminate them for this.

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