Heightened concern over intimidating behavior by powerful executives is shining a light on more widespread ill-treatment of employees caused by bullying behavior in the workplace.

With estimates of incidents of workplace bullying running into the tens of millions, employers that ignore the issue could face increased litigation stemming from the bullying behavior, legal experts say.

In addition, bullying can decrease productivity and has ramifications for workers compensation claims, they say.

To address the issue, employers must publish a clear policy against bullying in the workplace, treat bullying complaints seriously and take immediate action to address incidents of bullying.

“We are speaking about the issue more because people are more inclined to speak up about it. I think this focus on ‘#MeToo’ and ‘#TimesUp’ is going to further accelerate the focus on any kind of interpersonal behavior at work that is abusive or inappropriate,” said Teresa Daniel, Louisville, Kentucky-based dean of human resource leadership at Sullivan University. Ms. Daniel has studied and written about workplace bullying in the U.S. and is co-author of the book “Stop Bullying at Work: Strategies and Tools for HR, Legal, & Risk Management Professionals.”

In 2017, the Workplace Bullying Institute, a Bellingham, Washington-based research and training organization, called workplace bullying an epidemic. An estimated 30 million American workers have been or are currently being bullied at work, according to the institute. Many have also witnessed bullying in the workplace and the incidents can have a significant effect on companies that don’t address the problem, according to the institute.

The distractions caused by bullying can have “a huge impact on American productivity and profitability,” Ms. Daniel said.

“A lot of people will discount instances when bullying is happening and call it a personality conflict, or they look at it as ‘grow up and deal with this issue,’ so they don’t take it seriously,” she said.

Workplace bullying is a pattern and practice of persistent torment. The distinction between a bully in the workplace and a tough boss is that a bully is not working in the best interest of the organization and is instead focused on personal vendettas. Confusing a bully with an employee who is results-driven can present problems for employers, according to experts.

“Organizations are really ripe for bullying because we want people to get results,” Ms. Daniel said. And companies sometimes tolerate bullying behavior from high-performers who generate profitable business, she said.

“What happens is that people who get results sometimes get guarded and often have an executive sponsor, someone who will protect them within the organization. What I say to senior management teams when they tell me this person is too valuable for us to lose, my response is that this person is too dangerous,” said Ms. Daniel, who spoke with many organizations for her book.

Federal law does not prohibit bullying in the workplace, but bullying can give rise to legal claims under state laws, according to legal experts.

“Many states have laws that prohibit what is called intentional infliction of emotional distress or negligent infliction of emotional distress ... so if an officer of the company, manager, supervisor — essentially an agent — if it’s determined that they have engaged in this type of conduct, it could at a minimum be alleged and potentially proved they have been in violation of some of those state laws,” said David J. Pryzbylski, an Indianapolis-based partner at Barnes & Thornburg L.L.P.

Most states have a doctrine — respondeat superior — that can make the organizations vicariously liable for the actions of managers, supervisors and officers, he said.

“Generally speaking, employers will usually have at least some level of liability and responsibility for the acts of their employees, particularly the acts of their managers,” said Michael J. Willemin, a New York-based partner at Wigdor L.L.P.

Workplace bullying can sometimes be based on race, gender, age or other factors, and those violations of discrimination law can broaden liability for employers, according to experts.

“Where it gets sticky potentially is (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) or any other federal or state discrimination statues. For example, if a supervisor is only bullying people of a certain race or gender, a claim could be made that the bullying is creating a hostile work environment based on the fact that the supervisor was targeting people of a specific race or gender,” said Mr. Pryzbylski.

Workplace bullying can also result in allegations of sexual harassment.

“What starts as bullying that may or may not rise to the level of illegal behavior under the law could easily turn into illegal sexual harassment. If the bullying becomes pervasive and the victim can show ... that it satisfies those prongs in the analysis under anti-harassment laws, you now have illegal behavior in the workplace,” said Terese Connolly, a Chicago-based partner at Culhane Meadows P.L.L.C.

In addition, workplace bullying can affect workers compensation claims, experts say.

For example, co-workers may take a negative view of injured workers who return to work on light duty, said Sherri Bryant, Kansas City, Missouri-based team lead for integrated advocacy solutions at Lockton Cos. L.L.C.

“When they return to work in that capacity, sometimes their co-workers feel that they aren’t pulling their weight. They may antagonize them,” she said.

In addition, supervisors may poorly treat workers returning to work after an injury, Ms. Bryant said.

“Their supervisor is now dealing with an injured employee who can’t produce as much. Now that supervisor is responsible for finding someone else to pull their weight, so sometimes when we have a supervisor who is not very tactful — or quite simply a jerk — they can compound that employee’s recovery time by being hard on them when they return to work,” she said.

Employers can often spot workplace bullying via workers comp claims as well.

“What ends up happening is that you have someone come in and they report a claim, usually not anything extraordinary — it may come in as sprain or strain type of claim — then when you get into the claim you start encountering an individual that seems to malinger ... or have complaints about pain, needing medical care that doesn’t seem to go along with the injury,” said Kendra Schropp, Irving, Texas-based director of risk management and safety at On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina.

In other instances, injured workers may seem in a hurry to return to work when they have legitimate injuries, she said.

If a claims manager notices a cluster of workers acting in these ways at particular locations, “you may be able to start to put together some signs of bullying behavior that may be going on,” Ms. Schropp said.

Damaged corporate reputation, increases in staff turnover, absenteeism, reduced employee engagement and lower productivity can all result from workplace bullying.

“Then suddenly you may not be that place that people want to come and work. People are so review-driven now that they may take to a different platform and read about this on places like Glassdoor to find out people’s experiences,” said Ms. Schropp.

Employers should have detailed, recurring prevention plans in place to address workplace bullying, according to experts.

If employers already have an anti-bullying policy in place they should review it and make sure it is being upheld.

“The template that we utilize and share ... clearly states that there is zero tolerance for acts of bullying, intimidation, harassment, and threats of physical violence. That is the main fundamental starting points that we encourage in this area,” said Nicholas Smith, New York-based practice leader for security risk consulting at Willis Towers Watson P.L.C.