Prolonged exposure to abusive situations is damaging to individuals, mentally, emotionally as well as physically. It is therefore common to see broken individuals, as well as high staff turnover, at employers where managerial abuse towards staff occurs.
Whether employees leave their jobs themselves in the hope of a more positive experience with a new employer, or are forced to do so by management, termination of employment does not necessarily mean that the abusive behavior towards the employee has ended.
Employees who have been caught in a vortex of managerial abuse are often subjected to ongoing abuse even after their presence at the workplace has ended.
Economic abuse
If the employer has requested that the employee not serve through their notice period, or the employee has received a severance agreement that stipulates that attendance is not desired, then the employee is entitled to continued payments from the employer even if their presence at the workplace has ended.
Employees can then experience the employer withholding legitimate payments from them, whether it is in the form of salary payments, salary-related fees, or costs that the employer has to cover towards the relevant party. This is an example of financial abuse, where employees have to continue their fight against the employer, even with a mutually agreed upon severance agreement.
The point of financial abuse is to lock victims in the shackles of the abusive relationship and gives the abuser a sense of power over their victim. In the workplace, financial abuse is also to wear down the victim while in active service, hence the debilitating conditions of the previous workplace will continue to be a factor in the employees' lives even after termination. Employees who emerge tired and broken from a workplace that supported abusive behavior towards them, can therefore anticipate continued degradation of their mental health that can lead to burnout, despite not being active in the labor market. It is often difficult for individuals who experience continuing abuse after leaving an abusive workplace to explain how the continuing decline of their mental health is due to their previous employer.
It is therefore important for employees to keep their unions informed when it comes to all financial related decisions and communications with former employers. Unions can try and intervene on the behalf of the employee, hence taking the mental load off the employee.
Social and career related abuse
It is common for the abuser to use slander after the victim stops attending the workplace. The victim’s work habits, performance, temperament, or personality traits are all taken and put into negative light, all in order to reduce the credibility of the victim regarding the perpetrator's abuse towards them, as well as to cut off the victim's possible social relationships at the workplace. Stiff communication and ostracism of the victim from colleagues is both further abusive tactics towards the individual, as well as the abuser's way of being able to maintain their abusive behavior towards other employees who learn the fate of those who point out the abusive behavior.
The abuser can also maintain negative publicity towards their victim and thus have a negative effect on the person's career prospects in the future. This is often used as a threat towards the victim, that if the abuser's violence is discussed further, the abuser will actively work against the victim's professional honor. Is the victim thus driven into silence by their abuser, out of fear of further ostracism in their field of work.
What can be done?
It should be noted that continued abuse after termination is only done to mentally tear down the individual the abuse is directed at. It is therefore important for those who find themselves in this situation to contact their union immediately to take care of these issues for them, thusly alleviating the situation for the individual in question.
Unions can thusly act as a support while the victim is stuck in these abusive settings. This support is important in order to strengthen the individual and prevent the damage that takes place in the workplace, as well as outside it, from affecting the person's mental and physical health.
Unions do not have much influence when it comes to social or work-related violence, this is where open communication with colleagues and other parties in the labor market comes into play, as well as a good network which unfortunately not all employees have. It is therefore important for those who have witnessed abuse in the workplace to offer help in the form of recommendations or support after a person's termination, with the aim of reducing all contact the victim has to have with their abuser.
Unions, on the other hand, can intervene when it comes to financial violence, however they only classify it as wage theft or breach of contract, and never tackle the abuse itself.
In conclusion
It is important for employees who are caught up in managerial abuse to always discuss the situation frankly and report it to those who can provide support.
Employers should allow employees to discuss openly and frankly the conditions under which they work. An open conversation prevents any kind of communication problems, and issues are often resolved by intervening with the guidance of open and careful communication methods.
When employees find themselves in a situation that cannot be discussed within the walls of their workplace, it is therefore important to report the matter to their union, or directly to a lawyer, so that the situation can appropriately be followed up on and so that the union can intervene if possible. The reporting of cases is also done so that the victim of the situation does not feel alone during the abuse, and receives support in getting through the negative situations that the employer is allowing to happen.
If a workplace is known for allowing managerial abuse against employees, then increased disclosure to unions will help the unions see the overall picture of the situation and thus provide support to as many of their members as possible in the situations that exist in the workplace.
At the same time, the increased mention of abusive situations in a particular workplace is both a warning to others who might possibly want employment there, as well as the main tool the employees themselves can use in order to get a solution to the devastating conditions that are going on.
It is important to remember that all forms of abuse thrive in silence. Our main weapon against abusive situations is always an open discussion, talking about the situation and pointing out when abusive behavior is taking place. That is why it is so important to focus the discussion on any kind of unpleasant and demeaning behavior by managers towards employees.
Together as a whole we are strong, where an individual finds themselves locked into a chain of abusive events, the whole can over come it.
Article first published on Smartland 12.04.2023 [link]. Interview for Mannlegi þátturinn 27.04.2023 [link].