While this took place in a school environment (even with New Jersey having passed a stringent anti-bullying law in 2011), the school is also a workplace. And while hazing and sodomizing may be extreme examples of abuse, bullying is certainly a component of such actions. So reports WorkplaceBullying.org.

An article published earlier this year by the educational research and non-profit Workplace Bullying Institute reminds us that bullying is not uncommon in the office. Estimates by some advocates indicate that more than one-third of U.S. workers have experienced some form of bullying at work, and there have been some high-profile incidents in professional sports. The article goes on to say that schoolchildren currently have better legal anti-bullying protections than do adults (the New Jersey incident notwithstanding).

What's more, HR and legal professionals are far from unified on how to best handle the problem: through the courts or workplace policy.

Read the full article from WorkplaceBullying.org.