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Dozens testify in support of workplace psychological‑safety bills after injuries, long-term harm described
Summary
Workers, health professionals and legal advocates delivered emotional testimony supporting bills (S1291/S1347 and related drafts) that would establish employer duties and civil remedies for severe workplace bullying and psychological abuse.
Survivors of prolonged workplace bullying, health-care professionals, academic researchers and human-resources practitioners gave detailed testimony June 18 in favor of legislation to address psychological harm in the workplace.
The bills under discussion included Senate 1291 and Senate 1347 (Workplace Psychological Safety Act), and related drafts such as the revised approach (Senate 1316) that would impose a duty of care on employers to implement policies, training and responsive procedures to address severe bullying.
Why it matters: Witnesses described long-term mental- and physical-health consequences of workplace abuse — including anxiety, post-traumatic symptoms, cardiovascular events and suicide risk — and argued current law leaves many victims without practical remedies.
Selected testimony - Professor David Yamada (Suffolk University Law School), who helped draft earlier versions of the Healthy Workplace Bill, described a revised approach that “puts a duty of care on all employers to act responsive preventively and responsibly towards workplace bullying,” emphasizing prevention and early intervention as a way to reduce litigation. - Survivors and clinicians recounted medically documented harms: psychiatrist Dr. Rachel Sykes described how workplace bullying compounded post-COVID health problems; nurse Mary Ann Marshman recounted repeated bullying across nursing workplaces and cited a national nursing survey in which a large percentage of nurses reported bullying. - Witnesses representing End Workplace Abuse, the National Writers Union and multiple grassroots survivor groups urged passage of S1291/S1347 as a way to create enforceable employer obligations and safe reporting paths.
Discussion vs. decision: Testimony was extensive and came from multiple professions; no committee vote was recorded. Several witnesses asked the committee to adopt a standard that emphasized prevention, training and an enforceable duty for employers.
Ending: Supporters asked the committee to pass the measure as a public-health and workplace-safety intervention; committee members did not announce a vote date during the hearing.
