Verbal abuse

[Rochelle]

We live in MS. My husband works for a major hazardous materials company here. His boss is really a jerk. At monday morning meetings he routinely calls the employees f***heads, motherf******,b*******, and threatens them with firing if they don't work harder. He even kicked the back of the chair my husband was sitting in once. The guys work 10-12 hours a day on the road and they are worn out and when they walk in at the end of the day and turn in the tickets for the work the boss starts cussing them because he thinks they didn't collect enough money from clients. The company is losing money and I know the guy is stressed but the men work as hard as they can. One of my husband's co-workers got up and quit during one of the meetings and the boss started asking if there were anymore losers who wanted to leave. My husband is getting more and more depressed every day. He loves the work but the conditions he works under are really being to take a toll. Is this considered harassment and if so, what should he do? He sent an anonymous email to the home office but nothing has changed.

 

[cbg]

I wish I could tell you otherwise, I really do, but it sounds like this guy is an "equal opportunity jerk" which is not illegal. Certainly unpleasant to go through, but there are no laws being broken.

 

[Rochelle]

Thanks. He's looking for another job but in the meanwhile I'm scared he's going to snap and take a swing at the guy. My husband is 6'4" and 250 lbs. His boss is about 5'6" and probably 165 lbs, maybe. Physically, my husband could hurt him and then he'd end up in jail. I keep telling him to just pray and try to ignore the name calling. But everyday he dreads going in and facing the abuse.

 

[cbg]

Believe me, I understand. I've been there. I know how he feels. He's doing the right thing now by trying to get out. While of course the company morally should do something about this, they are not legally required to under the circumstances you describe, possibly because they don't fully understand the situation. With some companies, the only thing that gets through to them is when enough employees "vote with their feet".

Wish him luck for me. And here's some luck wished for you; I know it's tough on you as well.

 

[Rochelle]

cbg, an update for you!

My husband called me from his job this morning. He got there and found higher-ups from Human Resources there. His abusive boss had been told by them not to come in until after 1:00 today. They wanted to talk to all of the employees and didn't want them to feel intimidated by his being there. Anyway, he and several other employees told them about being cursed by their boss, the chairs being sat in kicked, being called "faggots" for wearing a coat when its cold outside because "a man with real balls could take the cold", and being told they were all a bunch of worthless sons of bitches. What my husband didn't know until this morning was that they had already received several other complaints about this guy and had come to investigate for themselves. They thanked my husband for not filing suit against them for the chair-kicking and told him that they did not operate a business that way and no one in their employ was allowed to behave that way. They will decide now what to do and how to correct this situation. Monday my husband said that his boss told them in their regular monday morning meeting that he "didn't know if he'd even still have a job on friday," so he knew then that they were looking at him. While I hate for anyone to lose their jobs so close to Christmas, I hope he gets what he deserves.

 

[cbg]

That's good news! I'm glad to hear it.

The woman who treated me badly was still with the company when I left, and I know of several people besides myself who left just to get away from her. The president wouldn't do anything, even though he acknowledged the problem. I'm glad your husband's company was willing to take action. Let me know what they finally do.

 

[Rochelle]

cbg, another update!

His boss was told to leave yesterday about 3:00 and not to come back until monday. They said they need to talk to more employees and they fired his secretary on the spot. Apparently she was able to get hold of some of the written complaints they turned in yesterday to the Human Resources reps and tried to "doctor" them to make the boss seem better. And they caught her. My husband called this morning and said it's completely relaxed this morning. The guys put on their uniforms and went to work without being threatened and told that if they come back without the money he thought they should be collecting he'd kick their dead asses.

 

[cbg]

Well, if they fired the secretary things look good for our side. Let me know Monday what happens.

By the way, I am TOTALLY ashamed of myself for this, but when I heard several years later that the woman who hasseled me had been killed in a car accident, my first thought was how sorry I was - that I'd never get to tell her what I thought of her.