Boss A Jerk? Think About Suing Him

The Skinny: Legislation To Let Employees Sue Bad Bosses Under Consideration In 4 States

(CBS)  The Skinny is Keach Hagey's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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Is your boss a nightmare? Not just annoying, but so completely lacking in people skills as to possibly be a sociopath?

There may now be more you can do than simply renting "Office Space" for the 11th time. The Los Angeles Times reports that lawmakers across the country are considering legislation that would give workers grounds to sue their superiors "for being, basically, jerks."

The specific standards for behavior that would justify such lawsuits are still being worked out. At least four state legislatures, including those in New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington, are considering such a measure.

Impetus for the legislation comes at a time of rising awareness of bad boss behavior, the L.A. Times reports. The AFL-CIO is set to announce the winner of its My Bad Boss contest based on who had the most ghoulish tale of boss misbehavior.

Top contenders include a boss who called the office every morning to give instructions as he brushed his teeth and conducted other business in the bathroom. Another boss told his workers to use pencils when he was told the office was so cold that the ink in their pens stopped flowing.

To those who would argue that pushing around employees has been a part of bosshood since the advent of work, the Times offers a few theories to explain the recent surge of worker whining.

Some experts contend the ranks of bullying bosses are growing as short-staffed companies tap managers with lousy people skills. Other experts point out that "baby boomers on the cusp of retirement and restless younger employees are more likely to complain or quit than suffer in silence."

The disgruntlement is fairly widespread. This year the Employment Law Alliance, a San Francisco clearinghouse for employment and labor lawyers, conducted a nationwide survey and found that 44 percent of employees said they worked for an abusive supervisor.

All good stuff to remember the next time your boss says, after asking you to work Saturday, "Ahh, I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too."

Maliki Malaise

U.S. lawmakers and military commanders alike have had it up to here with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to the top of the Wall Street Journal's newsbox and the front page of the Washington Post.

The Post delivers fightin' words from the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who just got back from a three-day trip to Iraq and Jordan apparently unimpressed with what he saw.

"I hope the parliament will vote the Maliki government out of office and will have the wisdom to replace it with a less sectarian and more unifying prime minister and government," he declared in a clear strike across the bow of the Maliki-backing President Bush. The Post called his statement "the most forceful call for leadership change in Iraq from a U.S. official."

Meanwhile, the Journal focuses on the deeply divided opinion of Maliki among military commanders, led by top U.S. commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus (pro) and Army Chief of Staff George Casey (anti). Petraeus says Maliki has been making baby steps and needs more time, but Casey, who held the top slot in 2005 and 2006, said "the U.S. may have erred in believing that Mr. Maliki, with a lifetime of Shiite activism, would be willing or able to make political compromises with the country's Sunnis."

"It would be a huge shame if, after all the military has accomplished with the surge, we don't get a political accommodation," Casey said. "But I'm not optimistic."

Airport Anger Is The New Road Rage

Casey and Levin aren't the only Iraq watchers in a dour mood. One congressman on his way to check out the situation over there had a little episode at Dulles International Airport over the weekend that resulted in his being charged with misdemeanor assault and battery for allegedly pushing an airline employee during a dispute over baggage, the Washington Post reports.

After "experiencing a delay claiming his bag," Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., allegedly attempted to enter an employees-only area, pushed aside an employee's arm and wouldn't leave when asked, according to the airport's statement. Filner's office called the charges "ridiculous."

That's as far as the Post is willing to go on the story, but a source familiar with the incident reportedly told Fox News that when airport agents told Filner to leave the off-limits area, her responded: "I'm not going until I get my bag. You're treating us like animals."

Considering the degeneration of the flying experience during the past few months, it's quite possible that the ornery lawmaker's behavior was the only logical response to the situation.


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[roach9703]

Random Radar, you are correct. In the long run, collective bargaining is the only solution for bad bosses. The shop steward can be of real help in a worker boss situation. When I was a production supervisor, I willingly used shop stewards to help deal with employee conflicts.
As for whistle-blowing, this is a matter of conscience. If there are serious labor or financial irregularities, it may be a civic duty to handle this. This is not much different than other civic duties, such as serving on a jury or accepting service in the military. There are risks to be taken to preserve democracy. If a future employer does not understand that, then one should not work for such an organization.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Considering the degeneration of the flying experience during the past few months, it''s quite possible that the ornery lawmaker''s behavior was the only logical response to the situation."

But is is only because he is a lawmaker that he is not being investigated as a "terrorist".

And this is what the lawmakers voted to bail out the airlines for.

[ken1dall]

Sue your boss because he''s a jerk??? Soon the monkeys will be running the zoo.

[nggr]

the authors name is "Keach"
hehe...

[vastr-wcon]

I''m loving it!

NETWORK NEWS RACE
Total Viewers, Week of 8/13/07
ABC: 8,010,000
NBC: 7,430,000
CBS: 5,790,000

Couric: still not enough tarting-up, dumbing-down!!!!

.

[foranc]

I work for for attorneys, does that not say it all? The general public at large only thinks they hate attorneys, you have to actually work for these a***les to really hate them. I worked for one who was such a mean spirited little bully that the dictionary definition of the word "prick" is his photograph. These sociopaths would act a whole lot nicer if they thought they were vulnerable to one of their contemporaries coming after their sorry *****.

[crystalblue3]

Ahhhh oakishpines....nice to know you pollute other sites as well.

Saw ya on philadelphiaweekly.com spouting the same crapola as ya do here. E X A C T L Y the same.

Get a life.

[tomar0317]

Sueing a jerk of a boss is good news. There are so many that simply think because they chose that career path they''re better than the rest. Some people prefer to be good worker bees because they like the hands on of their job. From over 40 years of working for bosses, some that have no business in those roles, I''m all for it. They make work far less fun and productive. Make them and the companies that prefer "yes" men accountable for their actions.

[gkc99]

"So don''''t even think about suing, let alone breath the word or do the deed. There will always to another job--probably a better job--for you...unless you sue your last employer."
Posted by random_radar

But there''s always the tip to the police or the IRS, the anonymous email to the wife, not to mention the ice pick to the auto tires, wire cutters to the brake lines, or even the bullet to the head.

In a world of abuse, boss killing may be the best way to dissuade the abusers. It''s like immunization--every year a few innocent little kids die from vaccination, but try to get your child into school without one. Boss killings are the same, a few (not so innocent) ones dies, too bad, so sad, but the rest get the message, one hopes, that there''s a limit to how much you can degrade a human being.

[mbcsmith]

CBS at the bottom of the news viewership again! Maybe it''s time to slap another intern for using big words.