Unreasonable Demands as “Training”? No — They May Be Workplace Bullying!

“Our company has a long history. Supervisors in both the business and production lines are accustomed to managing subordinates through high-pressure methods. I am very worried that after the new law takes effect, our company will face a constant stream of workplace bullying complaints!”

A chief HR officer in the manufacturing industry once shared this concern with me anxiously.

In the past era of authoritarian management, many supervisors liked to repeat the saying, “Reasonable demands are training; unreasonable demands are tempering.” Some even treated it as a golden rule of management. However, as an HR manager in a modern enterprise, if you continue to allow management to hold on to this outdated concept, your company may be exposing itself to significant legal risks. Under the newly amended Occupational Safety and Health Act, many so-called “unreasonable demands” are often not tempering at all, but outright workplace bullying.

When employees suffer physical or mental harm as a result of a supervisor’s “unreasonable demands,” the company is not merely facing the loss of talent. It may also face a full-scale storm of labor inspections, litigation, and reputational damage.

For labor law compliance training, please contact Yesin Law Firm at 02-25156822. Official website: https://www.yesinlaw.com

To help HR managers establish healthy and safe labor-management relations and workplace environments, this article explains seven key compliance points that HR managers must understand from a legal professional perspective.

1. Move away from military-style thinking: workplace management should not be based on a military command mindset

Many supervisors are accustomed to bringing their military service experience into the workplace, believing that high-pressure methods, or even humiliation, are necessary to unlock employees’ potential.

But a modern enterprise is not a military camp. Legally speaking, the employer and employee are parties to an equal contractual relationship. A supervisor’s managerial authority is not unlimited. Once management conduct departs from business legitimacy and necessity, it becomes an abuse of power, which cannot stand under the law.

2. Clarify the legal definition and establish a clear boundary for workplace bullying

Supervisors often defend themselves by saying, “I was only trying to push the employee to do better. How can that be bullying?”

However, under legal regulations, workplace bullying refers to conduct in the workplace that, through continuous words, actions, or systems, causes psychological or physical harm to another person, and exceeds the reasonable scope of managerial authority. HR managers must make management understand that it is acceptable to be strict in pursuing performance, but the means used must be objectively reasonable. Management must not be mixed with personal emotions or attacks on a person’s dignity.

3. Take statutory duties seriously: employer inaction is unlawful

Under the workplace bullying chapter of the newly amended Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers must adopt necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of workplace bullying.

This is a mandatory employer duty of prevention. When a workplace bullying incident occurs and the company has no prior preventive measures, or even chooses to handle the matter passively or gloss over it, once the labor inspection authority intervenes, the company may directly face administrative penalties.

4. Draw a clear line between performance evaluation and personal humiliation

Some supervisors use insulting language when conducting performance evaluations. HR must follow the spirit of the Labor Standards Act regarding whether an employee is competent for the work, and assist departments in establishing objective and quantifiable evaluation criteria.

Management may give an employee a low score for work ability, but it must never deny the employee’s dignity as a human being. Any evaluative language involving personal attacks can become the trigger for legal disputes.

5. Strictly review job transfers to prevent malicious forced resignations

Some supervisors, in order to force an employee to resign, deliberately transfer a research and development engineer to perform tedious clerical work, while calling it “grassroots training.”

HR managers must strictly examine whether such transfers comply with the five principles governing job transfers under the Labor Standards Act. If a transfer lacks business necessity and causes an adverse change to the employee’s working conditions, it is not only workplace bullying, but also an unlawful transfer, seriously undermining the bottom line of labor law compliance.

6. Recognize reputational and financial risks: when supervisors make mistakes, the company pays jointly

When a supervisor’s improper words or actions cause an employee to suffer a mental breakdown or develop depression, the employee has the right to claim damages from that supervisor under tort liability rules. More importantly, as the employer, the company may also bear joint and several liability for damages under the law.

If supervisors fail to update their understanding and blindly worship the management style of “unreasonable demands as tempering,” the company may ultimately have to pay substantial compensation. This is a burden no enterprise should underestimate.

7. Activate the internal investigation mechanism: HR must act as an impartial third party

When receiving a workplace bullying complaint, HR must not adopt a mindset of simply calming things down. Otherwise, during the subsequent labor inspection process, the company may be penalized for failing to fulfill its duties of investigation and appropriate handling.

HR should immediately activate the workplace bullying crisis-handling process, form an impartial investigation committee, interview both parties, and retain complete records. Only through a transparent and fair procedure can the company protect the victim while also clarifying the boundaries of managerial responsibility.

Attorney Chen Yeh-Shin’s Reminder

In today’s modern workplace environment, where there is zero tolerance for workplace bullying, HR managers are no longer merely administrative personnel responsible for payroll and attendance. They are now core guardians of corporate risk control.

When we hear a supervisor say to an employee, “This is your training,” HR must have a sensitive labor compliance radar and intervene promptly to correct improper management behavior.

Unreasonable management does not increase productivity. Instead, it acts like a slow poison, destroying the trust and cohesion of a team. If an enterprise wishes to pursue long-term development, it must incorporate a friendly and dignified workplace environment into the core indicators of ESG.

Dear HR colleagues, after reading this analysis, you may wish to look back and examine your company’s management culture and complaint mechanism: have you already built a solid legal firewall for your enterprise, or are you allowing certain supervisors’ “unreasonable training” to quietly evolve into a storm of workplace bullying in the corners of your workplace?