Law and Psychopaths in the Workplace

Corporate psychopaths are a serious problem within the inadequate but evolving national and international legal frameworks, affecting both individuals and corporate bodies. This chapter canvases the main areas of law potentially available to people and organizations, namely tort, employment, and criminal law for dealing with corporate psychopaths. It also draws attention to potential responses by managers, victims, and bystanders as well as the general limitations of law as a remedy—particularly given that some industries tacitly reward behaviors such as excessive risk taking, non-conformity and even rule-breaking that are attributes of corporate psychopathy. Finally, it suggests that law in the workplace can serve to foster mechanisms for positive psychology rather than relying on traditional legal deterrence through punitive sanctions.