Supervisor verbally assaulted his employee

[advNeeded]

Washington State - On Friday, April 11th, 2003 - I witnessed the Chief Operations Officer verbally assault one of the employees who currently works under him. Their conversation escalated to the point where the employee told the Chief to leave his office. The Chief said, "Make me. I can take you out right now."
What can I do to report this and what actions will be taken against this Chief. One thing - he has done this 2 times before. Once to the same employee and another time to the EVP of Sales.

 

[Beth3]

You can tell the CEO, who I presume is his boss. After that, it's entirely up to the CEO to decide what to do. No laws have been broken.

 

[advNeeded]

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH): WORKPLACE VIOLENCE is any physical assault, threatening behavior or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting. It includes but is not limited to beatings, stabbing, suicides, shootings, rapes, near suicides, psychological traumas such as threats, obscene phone calls, an intimidating presence, and harassment of any nature such as being followed in a public place, sworn at or shouted at.

Can't I sue for Harrassment? Or for letting the CEO accept this sort of behavior?

 

[cbg]

YOU can't sue for anything. YOU, according to your post, are not the one who was "verbally assaulted". Even if the behavior in question reached the point of illegality, which is a VERY big if, YOU do not have any rights to sue at all. Only the person who was actually "assaulted" can do that.

 

[advNeeded]

OK - so I don't sue. But does the employee have any grounds to sue? Or the EVP of Sales? The CEO knows of the COO behavior and does nothing about it. What can we - as employees - do? How can we get the COO to back off or to have him terminated?

 

[cbg]

I can't say absolutely definitely yes or no without knowing exactly what was said, but it is VERY unlikely that anyone has anything to sue for. We do have a system of free speech in this country - perhaps you've heard of it - it's called the First Amendment. If the CEO wants that kind of behavior stopped, he can do so. Until he decides that he wants to, all you can do is report it to him. After that, it's up to him. Period.

 

[Beth3]

You can't sue someone for being a jerk. And as cbg said, none of this happened to you, so you can't take legal action no matter what. I suggest you let the EVP of Sales fight his or her own battles. S/he is a senior executive and it would very likely be completely inappropriate of you to take action on his or her behalf unless you are the VP or HR.

You and the other employees simply do not have the power to change the COO's behavior or to undertake any action as a consequence for his appalling treatment of anyone at work. Once again, it is entirely in the hands of the CEO.