TABLE 2—
Experiences of Workplace Violence in the Form of Harassment Against Public Health Departments and Their Leaders, Media- and Self-Reported: United States, March 2020‒January 2021
| Harassment Experience Type | Media Reported/State Leadershipa (n = 51) | Media Reported/Local Leadershipa (n = 205) | Self-Reportedb/Local Health Departments (n = 583)c | |||||||||||
| Total, No. (%) | Resigned (n = 26), No. | Fired (n = 6), No. | Retired (n = 11), No. | Other, Left Position (n = 5), No. | Not Departed (n = 3), No. | Total, No. (%) | Resigned (n = 94), No. | Fired (n = 14), No. | Retired (n = 47), No. | Other, Left Position (n = 19), No. | Not Departed (n = 31), No. | Leadership Directed, No. (%) | Departments Affected,d No. (%) | |
| General social media backlash | 12 (24) | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 40 (20) | 18 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 194 (33) | 296 (51) |
| Individually directed messagese | 3 (6) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 28 (14) | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 173 (30) | 230 (39) |
| Public broadcast of personal information | 1 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 42 (7) | 51 (9) |
| Threats to individual or family safety | 3 (6) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27 (13) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 55 (9) | 88 (15) |
| Online coordinated demonstrations | 5 (10) | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 (3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 55 (9) | 95 (16) |
| Coordinated demonstrations in physical public space | 25 (50) | 14 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 27 (13) | 12 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 33 (6) | 60 (10) |
| Coordinated demonstrations in private or home space | 1 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 (2) | 14 (2) |
| Vandalism of public property | 1 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 (1) | 14 (2) |
| Vandalism of personal property | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 (< 1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 (1) | 7 (1) |
| Otherf | 7 (14) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 31 (15) | 15 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 12 (2) | 16 (3) |
| Any type | 31 (61) | 16 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 81 (40) | 37 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 253 (43) | 335g (57) |
Overall and by employment status.
Responses were provided by a single representative of each local health department on the Harassment and Changes in Local Health Department Roles and Authority module of the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ Forces of Change survey.
Responding departments included n = 119 from the Northeast, n = 206 from the South, n = 208 from the Midwest, and n = 50 from the West region. Employment status of targeted persons is unknown.
Affected departments refers to departments that agreed the corresponding harassment type targeted their leadership, staff, or the department on whole.
Excludes safety threats.
Includes political or job security threats.
Across all department, leadership, and staff targets, 1499 acknowledgments of harassment were reported.