Power harassment

Power harassment is harassment or unwelcome attention of a political nature, often occurring in the environment of a workplace including hospitals, schools and universities. It includes a range of behavior from mild irritation and annoyances to serious abuses which can even involve forced activity beyond the boundaries of the job description. Power harassment is considered a form of illegal discrimination and is a form of political and psychological abuse, and bullying.

Origin
Although power harassment has occurred in many environments, it received wide publicity in the Japanese work environment, especially during the "economic animal" era. The term itself was coined by Okada Yasuko in 2002 and is used mainly in Japan. It is analogous to "abuse of authority" or rankism in the workplace. Yuichiro Makiguchi is one of the researchers of power harassment at Tokoha Gakuen Junior College in Japan.

Example
Many workers are forced by their superiors to perform tasks outside of their job description and working hours. It is common for workers to be fired or suffer severe repercussions if they do not satisfy their superior's orders, despite there being no justifiable basis for such orders. Typical examples of power harassment include:
 * 1) being scolded in front of other colleagues, rebuked in a loud voice
 * 2) neglect
 * 3) false evaluation and demotion.