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1. Posted by JS - 6 months, 1 week, 6 days, 2 minutes ago

   I had a horrible experience with the named partner of a prior law firm.  He would publicly berate associates, paralegals, secretarial staff, and even at times his partners.  He would storm into my office and throw papers on my desk, shouting at me to ask if I had a *$@#$ brain in my head.  This happened about every 8-10 weeks during the 2 years I was there, even when he was wrong about the substantive point of law that was the source of his tirade.  It was so bad that every day I wished I would get in a car wreck so I would not have to go to work.

   I had to leave the firm as I could not tolerate his abusive behavior any longer. During my exit interview, I calmly and clearly informed the abuser that he had treated me horribly.  I also told him that he had to learn to control his temper as he could not continue to treat people the way he had treated me. It was so cathartic, I wish I had confronted him sooner.  The only reason I waited is that I am the sole breadwinner for my family and did not want to risk him firing me for standing my ground. 

   Now, things are different.  I have a wonderful working environment, BUT if anyone tried to inflict similar kind of abuse on my again, I would immediately, calmly and firmly inform that person (named partner or not) that s/he would speak to me civilly and professionally, or not at all.  I will never endure that abuse again.

2. Posted by K. - 6 months, 1 week, 5 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes ago

   I worked as a paralegal for several years before law school.  At my first paralegal job, at a five-attorney firm, the senior partner had a horrible temper and was verbally and physically abusive.  Coworkers told me he had a terrible temper, and that he would occasionally throw things at people who displeased him—I didn’t believe it though, not until I actually saw it.  I didn’t work with him often; I spent 90% of my time on the floor above his office though.  One day I heard a terrible crash and screams coming from the floor below me.  I ran down the stairs and into the senior partner’s office, where the his terrified secretary was cowering in a corner.  He had pushed over a filing cabinet, in anger.  I ran into the room asking “What happened?  Is anyone hurt?  Should I call 911?” The senior partner glared at me.  I ushered his secretary out and urged her to call the police and file a report.  She refused, insisting that he hadn’t hit her with anything, she was just scared by it.  A few months later she quit (after he threw a tape dispenser at her and it hit her leg).  She didn’t even ask for any sort of severance package or compensation, which I attributed to her being freakin’ terrified of the guy. 
   I left that firm myself after a few months.  Totally dysfunctional place to work, quite likely the worst job I ever had.

3. Posted by BIGLAW 1ST YEAR - 6 months, 1 week, 5 days, 10 hours, 33 minutes ago

   If this bill becomes law and the leftists win, this country has trued approached the brink of facism/nazism.

4. Posted by James Squicciarini - 6 months, 1 week, 5 days, 3 hours, 53 minutes ago

   I have been a Middle School Math Teacher in an inner-city school in New Jersey for the past 6 years.  During my first year of working in this position it came to my attention that a couple of African American teachers had been telling my students that I was a racist and that I only raised my voice in class because they were minorities.  It was a job where I had to put up with racist rhetoric on a daily basis.  This rhetoric was not just aimed towards me, rather its intention seemed to be to instill hate toward white people into the minds of all of the students in a school which is predominantly black and Hispanic.

   Over the years, I would actually hear some of the rhetoric through the walls.  This rhetoric came from people who would physically beat the students with rulers wrapped with electrical tape and wiffleball bats.  At least I wasn’t alone, there seemed to be plenty of abuse to go around. 

   When I finally decided to make issues out of some of the events taking place in the middle school, my classroom was moved from the third floor to the old woodshop on the first floor.  I was forced to teach for two years in an ill equipped classroom while another teacher was teaching a separate class on the other side.  On top of this adversity, I was refused any disciplinary support from the administrators.  The first year of teaching in this room I was given two sixth grade classes, which were made up of the lowest scorers on the standardized test, and the seventh grade special education inclusion class.  For those of you who have never taught, lack of academic understanding is often followed by behavioral issues.  To say the least, I took these classes from a 10% passing rate to over 50% passing.

   The following year I was rewarded for my work, not only was I given the lowest scorers on the test, but I was also given the opportunity to work with a first year classroom teacher without any classroom management skills.  His classes were so loud that my students in the first row could not hear me teach for the first four months of the year. 

   A couple of months into the second school year I sent out a mass email to the district seeking help getting walls built to separate the classes.  But instead of getting the walls built I received a letter stating that my actions were unprofessional and a waste of district resources. 

   In January of last year I requested a transfer and was promptly denied.  In May, after being hit in the face with a soda bottle, I made a second request for a transfer based on this incident and was denied again.  In June, I went to the principal and demanded another transfer.  This time I made it clear that I would file a lawsuit claiming harassment under the whistleblowers act and that I would use every criminal act that I witnessed in the school to support my claim of a hostile work environment.  To this I was promised that I would receive a transfer by September, which I did receive. 

   Also in June, a student came to me and told me that my boss had inappropriately touched her chest.  She indicated to me that he had put his one arm around her shoulder and began to rub her chest with his other hand.  Knowing that I had seen him having a conversation with one of my sixth graders with his forehead pressed to hers for an extended period of time, I went to a more experienced teacher for advice.  She then told me that there was an eighth grader who had disappeared on a regular basis and that she would always immerge from behind the closed door of my boss’ office. 

   Knowing all of this in addition to the fact that he is married to one of his former high school students, I decided to report this to the Principal of the school.  Unfortunately, I never heard anything back from her.

   A few weeks into this school year, at my new school, the teacher whom I work with came to me and told me that she no longer trusted me because of everything she heard from the other school.  She then went on to make my life miserable at the new school.  Thank God that she has recently had a change of heart and has been much nicer to me over the last few weeks.

   I passed the NY Bar in July and I am in the process of applying for admissions.

5. Posted by Thrilled to have quit - 6 months, 1 week, 4 days, 1 hour, 37 minutes ago

   Wow, my story pales in comparison to some of these.  However, because I never tire of venting about it… My last boss was a tyrant but had no idea.  Every goof would subject the mistaken party to a 30-minute speech in which the boss would make his point in the first five minutes and then go on to repeat the same point for the next 25 minutes.  And, of course, if you billed any less because you had to listen to him for 30 minutes, you would be accused of slacking off (leading to another 30 minute speech, thereby perpetuating the cycle).  If we took initiative we should have asked permission, and if we asked questions, we lacked self confidence.  The worst part of this was that he considered himself one of the best bosses out of the entire staff legal department (approximately 25 offices nationwide), and constantly told us how lucky we were to be working for him.  Horrible!  I am not a cryer, but he made me cry three times in my first month on the job.  It’s a miracle I lasted a year.
   At my current job, mistakes earn us a 5 to 15 minute chat with the boss on how to correct the mistake now and avoid it in the future.  We are respected, the rules are clear on when we need to seek help and when we can go it alone, and we genuinely like our bosses.  It’s been a wonderful change of pace!

6. Posted by Maria V - 6 months, 1 week, 4 days, 1 hour, 27 minutes ago

   When I was a paralegal at a small firm before law school, my boss left a note on my chair one day asking me to get him a box of pencils from the supply room and to sharpen them for him.  I did, and left them on his desk.  After he got back, he came by to see me.  “These pencils aren’t sharp enough,” he said.  “I need you to re-sharpen them.” Power trip, anyone?  At the time I was only 22, it was my first job out of college, and I was too intimidated to say anything.  After similar incidents over the course of a year, though, I got more confident and less scared and I began speaking up when I felt I was being disrespected.  Right before I left, my boss asked me if I really thought I would be treated better at my next job.  “I’m going to make sure of it,” I replied.  And I’ve had pretty good working relationships ever since.

7. Posted by ombuds - 6 months, 1 week, 1 day, 16 hours, 20 minutes ago

   I was a lawyer for many years, and ran into my share of bullies who were particularly skilled at terrorizing associates and staff.  There was a fellow who enjoyed unholstering and wielding a knife around associates, and many more who were your garden variety screamers and humiliators.  I was not subjected long to such behavior (even though I’m a small woman, I’m steely and was apparently considered of sufficient valuable to be allowed to stand my ground), but I could see the significant harm that the bullies visited on many others.  I figured that temper tantrums (and other aggressive behaviors) just came with the territory (litigation).  Indeed, verbal sparring was in some ways a healthy part of sussing out case weaknesses, and helped us to do good work.  Some people, however, didn’t appear to be able to draw the line between acceptable aggressiveness as advocates and inappropriate aggressiveness as human beings.

   Well, that’s all behind me.  Sort of.  I’ve become an ombuds for a university, and have been surprised to find that academia has more than its share of bullies.  Although I have not seen any knife-wielders, and the screamers seem to be a little lower on the decibel level than some litigators I know, the screamers do exist here and the humiliators abound.  In fact, I’m in the process of designing a workshop on bullying in an attempt to begin addressing the problem at my institution.

   Although I could detail some ways I have dealt with bullies on my own account or for others, that would miss the point.  It is not a simple problem with a one-size-fits all solution. 

   I think that attempting to deal with workplace bullying would be a worthwhile endeavor, but see it as extraordinarily difficult to do well. 

   I don’t think this is the place to go on at length about solutions, but I’m glad the discussion has begun.

8. Posted by Nichole - 6 months, 1 week, 2 hours, 28 minutes ago

   If the behavior would equal assault and/or battery under the criminal code, then I don’t see any reason why it can’t be sued on under the civil code. I normally represent employer’s in defense suits and I have no patience for clients that allow abusive behavior. They may get summary judgment in a lawsuit, but they’ll spend a lot of money before then.

9. Posted by voice of reason - 6 months, 6 days, 18 hours, 48 minutes ago

   A discussion about solutions and ways to deal with workplace bullying would be quite valuable.  I hope ombuds posts again with some ideas.  One of the things that makes this issue so difficult is that redefining abuse as out of bounds can involve a significant change in workplace culture.  If the senior partners are uninterested in curbing the abusive behavior, it’s pretty hard for an individual attorney single-handedly do so--particularly if that attorney is a junior associate.

10. Posted by Jane Doe - 6 months, 3 days, 18 hours, 17 minutes ago

    From the responses posted, it would appear that either (A) workplace bullying is a problem of the past, or (B) people who are currently being bullied at their jobs aren’t willing to risk talking about it online. A friend of a friend of my cousin has assured me the correct answer is the latter.