Bullying Boss Can Harm Employer on the Job—and in the Courtroom

Some bosses are jerks.

When they’re nasty to all their employees, they’re “equal opportunity jerks,” said Natasha Bowman, president of Performance ReNew in New York. A boss’s boorish behavior could lead to liability for the employer and decreased workplace productivity, she told a conference audience March 13.

“Salary alone does not make employees happy,” Bowman said. The “tone of the workplace” is highly significant. She said human resources professionals should “talk to your senior leadership” about “civility in the workplace.”

Sometimes the problems flow from a “high-value employee”—a high performer, a rainmaker, a world-renowned expert—who thinks he “can treat the ...