Manager Made Threat Prior to Laying Me Off

[shellyjackson110]

Okay,
My manager yells, screams and bullys the staff. everyone is afraid to say something because they do not want to lose their job.
i spoke to my mgr and his manager in regards to verbal abuse. a suggestion was a different approach by me however nothing changed with my manager.

one day, my manager asked me to do something and i told him that he took the responsibility away from me and turned and started typing.
my mgr gets upset and says "you need to look at me when i am talking and there are going to be cuts you better watch it".

during a meeting he tells us to be on our best behavior or we may be laid off. i asked him in the meeting with team members
present why did he tell me "to watch it". he tried to clean it up by saying his manager said to tell the team there may be cuts.

needless to say, i was the only team member laid off.

i can prove bullying because he has done it to the entire staff. i was the only person to stand up to him.

what do you thiink?

[cyjeff]

Okay,
My manager yells, screams and bullys the staff. everyone is afraid to say something because they do not want to lose their job.
i spoke to my mgr and his manager in regards to verbal abuse. a suggestion was a different approach by me however nothing changed with my manager.

one day, my manager asked me to do something and i told him that he took the responsibility away from me and turned and started typing.
my mgr gets upset and says "you need to look at me when i am talking and there are going to be cuts you better watch it".

during a meeting he tells us to be on our best behavior or we may be laid off. i asked him in the meeting with team members
present why did he tell me "to watch it". he tried to clean it up by saying his manager said to tell the team there may be cuts.

needless to say, i was the only team member laid off.

i can prove bullying because he has done it to the entire staff. i was the only person to stand up to him.

what do you thiink?

I think your former boss was a jerk.

Being a jerk is not illegal.

[cbg]

I think you need to file for unemployment and look for another job. Firing you because you "stood up to the boss" is not illegal.

Nor is it illegal to give you prior warning that your job is in jeopardy.

[jk]

there is nothing illegal about bullying you nor is there anything about threatening you with a layoff nor is there anything illegal about laying you off in the situation you describe.

[PandorasBox]

There is a state, NY I believe, working on Bully Boss laws. That would be soooo nice.

[cbg]

I still want to know whether the poster would prefer that he NOT be notified that his job is in jeopardy. Would he rather be fired out of the blue with no warning?

[PattyPA]

Problem I foresee with bullying LAWS is determining what is bullying and what is not. IMHO, it's a matter of opinion and degree. But that's a debate for another thread.

[cyjeff]

Problem I foresee with bullying LAWS is determining what is bullying and what is not. IMHO, it's a matter of opinion and degree. But that's a debate for another thread.

I was once told I was a bully boss because I wouldn't let an employee work out of the home anytime she wanted....

Let's just say that the definition has a lot of gray in it.

[cbg]

And if the employer had not "made a threat", the poster would be here wanting to know if the employer wasn't required to give them a warning before they could be laid off.

I was once directly involved in a situation where an employee - call her Jane - was so convinced that she was being bullied that she went so far as to involve the police. Not only was Jane not being bullied (and yes, I can say that with absolute assurance - if anything, she was being cut more slack than she should have been) we discovered after the fact that she was herself bullying some of her co-workers, who were too afraid of her to report her. One employee told me, after Jane was fired, that she was literally afraid to come to work if she was scheduled at the same time with Jane. Yet Jane was the one who went to the police and reported that she was being abused by her boss.

Anti-bullying laws? They're needed in both directions, if you ask me. Jane's attempt to get her boss fired (which came far too close to succeeding - luckily, unknown to Jane, I had been a witness to one of conversations Jane was using as "proof") stemmed from the fact that Jane was told she had to cut down on her smoke breaks (once an hour and fifteen minutes at a time); had recently been chastised for a careless mistake that cost the company $700+ and disaccomodated several of her co-workers, and from a company wide memo informing the staff that such and such an action would no longer be tolerated, which Jane decided was directly solely at her. (Jane was one of the offenders - she was not by any means the only or even the worst offender). In other words, her manager was actually doing his job. And I know for an absolute fact that he was being nice about it, and NOT bullying her.

It's far too easy for an employee who isn't getting what he or she wants to claim that they are being bullied.

[cyjeff]

And if the employer had not "made a threat", the poster would be here wanting to know if the employer wasn't required to give them a warning before they could be laid off.

I was once directly involved in a situation where an employee - call her Jane - was so convinced that she was being bullied that she went so far as to involve the police. Not only was Jane not being bullied (and yes, I can say that with absolute assurance - if anything, she was being cut more slack than she should have been) we discovered after the fact that she was herself bullying some of her co-workers, who were too afraid of her to report her. One employee told me, after Jane was fired, that she was literally afraid to come to work if she was scheduled at the same time with Jane. Yet Jane was the one who went to the police and reported that she was being abused by her boss.

Anti-bullying laws? They're needed in both directions, if you ask me. Jane's attempt to get her boss fired (which came far too close to succeeding - luckily, unknown to Jane, I had been a witness to one of conversations Jane was using as "proof") stemmed from the fact that Jane was told she had to cut down on her smoke breaks (once an hour and fifteen minutes at a time); had recently been chastised for a careless mistake that cost the company $700+ and disaccomodated several of her co-workers, and from a company wide memo informing the staff that such and such an action would no longer be tolerated, which Jane decided was directly solely at her. (Jane was one of the offenders - she was not by any means the only or even the worst offender). In other words, her manager was actually doing his job. And I know for an absolute fact that he was being nice about it, and NOT bullying her.

It's far too easy for an employee who isn't getting what he or she wants to claim that they are being bullied.

We really need to write a book.

Some of the things we have seen....

I once had an employee say I was discriminating against him because he was a gun lover... and brought a pistol INTO THE OFFICE.

Not because he was armed... but because he was an NRA member... and that was political discrimination.