Unreasonable Demands Are Not “Training”—They May Be Workplace Bullying

“Our company has a long history. Many supervisors in our business and production units are used to managing subordinates with high-pressure methods. I am very concerned that, after the new law takes effect, the company may face repeated workplace bullying complaints.”

This was the concern raised by the chief human resources officer of a manufacturing company.

In the past era of authoritarian management, many supervisors liked to repeat the phrase: “Reasonable demands are training; unreasonable demands are character-building.” Some even treated this as a golden rule of management.

However, for HR leaders in modern enterprises, allowing management to continue relying on this outdated mindset may expose the company to significant legal risks. Under the amended Occupational Safety and Health Act, many so-called “unreasonable demands” are not character-building at all. They may constitute workplace bullying.

When employees suffer physical or mental harm because of a supervisor’s unreasonable demands, the company may face far more than talent loss. It may also face labor inspections, litigation, administrative penalties, and reputational damage.

For labor law compliance training, please contact YesinLaw:Tel: 02-25156822Website: https://www.yesinlaw.com

To help HR leaders build healthier and safer labor relations and workplace environments, this article summarizes seven key compliance points from a legal perspective.

1. Move Beyond Military-Style Thinking: Corporate Management Is Not Military Command

Many supervisors bring past military-style experiences into the workplace and believe that high-pressure or even humiliating methods are necessary to bring out employees’ potential.

Modern enterprises, however, are not military barracks. Legally speaking, the employment relationship is a contractual relationship between parties with equal legal status.

A supervisor’s managerial authority is not unlimited. Once management conduct loses its business legitimacy and necessity, it may become an abuse of power. From a legal perspective, such conduct is difficult to defend.

2. Define the Legal Boundaries of Workplace Bullying

Supervisors often argue: “I only wanted the employee to improve. How can that be bullying?”

Under the legal framework, workplace bullying generally refers to conduct in the workplace that, through repeated words, actions, or institutional practices, causes psychological or physical harm to another person and exceeds the scope of reasonable managerial authority.

HR leaders must ensure that management understands this boundary. Performance expectations may be strict, but management methods must remain objectively reasonable. They must not be mixed with personal emotions, insults, or attacks on human dignity.

3. Recognize the Employer’s Statutory Duty: Inaction May Be Unlawful

Under the workplace bullying provisions of the amended Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers are required to adopt necessary measures to prevent workplace bullying.

This is a mandatory employer responsibility.

When workplace bullying occurs, and the company has no preventive measures in place, or chooses to handle the matter passively or informally, the company may face administrative penalties once the labor inspection authority intervenes.

Ignoring the issue is not risk control. It is legal exposure.

4. Draw a Clear Line Between Performance Evaluation and Personal Humiliation

Some supervisors use insulting language when conducting performance evaluations.

HR should help each department establish objective and measurable performance standards in line with the principles underlying Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act on employee competence and performance.

Management may evaluate an employee’s work performance negatively where justified. However, management must not deny the employee’s dignity as a person.

Any performance evaluation language involving personal attacks may become the trigger for a legal dispute.

5. Strictly Review Job Transfers to Prevent Forced Resignations

Some supervisors, in an attempt to force employees out, may deliberately transfer an R&D engineer to meaningless clerical work and describe the transfer as “basic-level training.”

HR leaders must carefully review whether any job transfer complies with the five legal principles governing transfers under the Labor Standards Act.

If a transfer lacks business necessity and results in adverse changes to the employee’s working conditions, it may constitute not only workplace bullying but also an unlawful transfer. Such conduct seriously undermines the company’s labor law compliance foundation.

6. Understand the Reputational and Financial Risks: The Company May Pay for a Supervisor’s Misconduct

When a supervisor’s improper words or actions cause an employee to suffer mental distress, psychological breakdown, depression, or other harm, the employee may seek damages from the supervisor under tort law.

More importantly, the company, as the employer, may also bear joint and several liability for damages.

If supervisors fail to update their management mindset and continue to worship the idea that “unreasonable demands are character-building,” the company may ultimately be required to pay substantial compensation.

This is not a risk that any responsible enterprise should ignore.

7. Activate the Internal Investigation Mechanism: HR Must Act as a Fair Third Party

When a workplace bullying complaint is filed, HR cannot simply try to smooth things over.

If the company fails to fulfill its investigation and handling obligations, it may face penalties during subsequent labor inspection proceedings.

HR should promptly activate the company’s workplace bullying crisis-handling process, form an impartial investigation panel, interview both parties, and keep complete records.

Only through a transparent and fair procedure can the company protect potential victims while also clarifying the proper boundaries of managerial responsibility.

A Reminder from Attorney Chen Yeh-Sin

In today’s workplace environment, where workplace bullying is increasingly subject to strict legal scrutiny, HR leaders are no longer merely administrative personnel responsible for payroll and attendance. They are key guardians of corporate risk management.

When HR hears a supervisor tell an employee, “This is character-building for you,” HR must have a sharp labor compliance radar and intervene before improper management escalates into legal exposure.

Unreasonable management does not improve productivity. Like a slow-acting poison, it destroys trust, morale, and team cohesion.

For companies pursuing long-term development, a friendly and dignified workplace should be treated as part of the core of ESG governance.

HR professionals should take this opportunity to review their company’s management culture and complaint-handling mechanisms.

Has your company already built a solid legal firewall, or are certain supervisors’ “unreasonable training methods” quietly turning into a workplace bullying storm?

YesinLawTel: 02-25156822Website: https://www.yesinlaw.com