WASHINGTON (AP) — Margaret Fiester is no shrinking violet, but she says working for her former boss was a nightmare.

"One day I didn't do something right and she actually laid her hands on me and got up in my face and started yelling, 'Why did you do that?'" said Fiester, who worked as a legal assistant for an attorney.

Fiester doesn't have to worry about those tirades anymore, but she hears lots of similar stories in her current role as operations manager at the Society for Human Resource Management, where she often fields questions about the growing issue of workplace bullying.