Petition addressed to: Members of the State Legislature Labor Committee in California
In 2014, California's state legislature adopted SB 2053, which added a definition of abusive conduct in the workplace to Government Code Section 12950.1. This amended code required that abusive conduct ("bullying") be included in the sexual harassment training required under the law. Abusive conduct is defined by the California Government Code, Section 12950.1, as
…workplace conduct, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer's legitimate business interests.
This petitioner and the undersigned petitioners request that the legislator(s) to whom this petition is addressed sponsor a bill to remove the words "with malice" from California Government Code section 29105.1.
Petition started:
04/23/2026
Collection ends:
10/23/2026
Region:
California
Topic:
Civil rights
The real problem here is that bullying at work is not about publishing false statements about a targeted employee. Bullying is both covert and overt, and both aspects of constant harassment cause damaging stress to the nervous system. This constant behavior – whether overtly hostile or subtle sabotage— is what really harms workers the most, because most people do not believe the target when they try to expose what is happening to them.
No CONTRA argument yet.
Workplace bullying has no recourse under current law yet it is prevalent and extremely damaging to everyone who experiences or witnesses it. Furthermore, workplace bullying creates / is an aspect of a toxic work environment which limits decision making, risk and opportunity analysis, and innovation. It has individual, organizational, and economic implications - all of which are negative and harm us all.
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As a public sector employee, I have been a Target of, and Witness, to workplace bullying that includes discrimination, harassment, racism, and sexism. The perpetrators are line staff, union members, and managers. Perpetrators are rewarded with promotions. Elected officials in the state, at all levels, have know about the systemic abuses for years, yet they choose to ignore the illegal and immoral behavior.
Workplace bullying needs to be illegal so that the perpetrators and their enablers are held accaccountable; and so working people no longer have to suffer in silence. Not all bullies are in DC.