Tweet
By John Stancavage, Tulsa World
Read the complete list of eBossWatch’s 100 worst leaders.
Does your boss snap at you occasionally or tend to speak to you in a condescending tone?
If that’s the worst behavior you encounter at the office, you might count yourself lucky in comparison to employees who work for some of the country’s truly bad leaders.
EBossWatch, a website that allows people to anonymously rate their managers, recently released its third annual list of America’s 100 worst bosses.
No. 1 on the list was Hollywood producer Jon Peters. According to a Huffington Post report on the eBossWatch site, a Los Angeles jury ordered Peters to pay his former assistant more than $3 million after finding she was subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.
Shelly Morita sued Peters after he allegedly fondled her at his Malibu home and climbed into bed with her in an Australian hotel during the filming of “Superman Returns.”
Sexual harassment or sexual assault was a common issue in 2011, with most of the top 20 worst bosses being accused of such behavior.
Well-known names making the list included Jesse Jackson, Herman Cain and David Boreanaz.
Outrageous acts
“Some of the alleged incidents were so horrendous that I would have a hard time repeating the specifics,” said Kevin Kennemer, founder of The People Group, a Tulsa-based human resources consulting firm. He was a member of the panel of experts who chose the 2011 list of bad leaders for eBossWatch.
“What we hope people will take away from this list is a better understanding that this behavior is going on and that many companies are allowing it to continue,” Kennemer said.
“These things happen in dark places. We want to shine a light on them so more businesses will take the problem seriously and take a closer look at their managers.”
In other alleged acts, bad boss No. 8, Frenchtown (Montana) Fire Chief John Bibler threatened to kill a fire department volunteer. Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech wrote, “The court finds the behavior of Mr. Bibler to be threatening and abusive, yet plainly stupid,” according to the eBossWatch website.
Being a bad boss was not limited to men. Several women made the 2011 list.
One was the former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg, Cynthia Stroum, who was ranked bad boss No. 34 for alleged workplace bullying.
A State Department inspector general’s report, as quoted by eBossWatch, stated that Stroum’s “confrontational management style” resulted in chronic staffing shortages and made the embassy dysfunctional.
Stroum, eBossWatch noted, was apparently such an insufferable leader that some employees requested transfers to Afghanistan or Iraq.
A hostile workplace also was the center of a complaint filed by five female employees of the Broward (Florida) Sheriff’s Office against its chaplain, Rick Braswell, bad boss No. 43. Allegations by the women included that Braswell was rude, used insulting language, yelled and kicked the chair one of them was sitting in.
Widespread issue
The complete list of abusive leaders showed that problems can exist in any industry. Alleged bad bosses included a Fortune 500 CEO, two U.S. Navy officers, two doctors, two judges, two district attorneys, three police chiefs and a congressman.
“We continue to be shocked by the egregious harassment and discrimination that happens in far too many American workplaces,” said Asher Adelman, founder of eBossWatch.
Although there is widespread discussion about toxic workplaces today and more federal rules protecting workers, there seems to be no letup in bad behavior. If anything, misdeeds are on the rise, said Linnda Durre, a psychotherapist and author who was another member of the panel that compiled the eBossWatch list.
“The number of sexual harassment charges this past year was much more than last year,” Durre said in a phone interview.
“In addition, the types of harassment were more blatant. There seemed to be a total disregard for women’s and minorities’ rights. And we also saw more situations involving gays.”
Actions considered sexual harassment can include unwanted romantic advances, inappropriate touching, kisses, sharing photos or emails of a sexual nature, and offering perks or promotions in exchanges for dates or sexual favors.
Document behavior
Most companies allow a “one strike” rule for the milder offenses. For example, a boss could ask a worker out on a date. If the worker declines, a second invitation could be interpreted as harassment.
“This is why it’s important for the person on the receiving end to tell other person right away to stop the behavior,” Kennemer said.
If it continues, the victim should document the actions and inform human resources.
There can be pressure not to report bad behavior, said Durre, who has appeared on “Oprah,” “60 Minutes” and “The Today Show,” and is the author of “Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Coworkers, Bosses and Work Environments That Poison Your Day” (McGraw Hill).
Durre said the economic downturn and weak job market increases the pressure on employees.
“People need their jobs,” Durre said. “Some bosses think they are kings with unlimited power and believe that their employees are their slaves, so they try to take advantage of them.”
Kennemer said the perpetrator, when confronted by HR, usually will deny the actions. Most HR departments will investigate, but he warned that some may not act if the accused is a top officer with a lot of clout.
In that case, the employee should seek legal advice or consider filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Wielding power
Durre agreed with Kennemer that harassment in the workplace needs more attention from companies.
Examined clinically, a workplace bully or office sexual predator is not much different from a psychopath or sociopath, the author said.
“For them, everything is about power, control, ego and money,” she said. “There’s nothing inherently bad in those things. It’s just that you can use them for good or for evil.”
Leaders prone to evil lack empathy and compassion, she said. Instead they have a sense of entitlement, no guilt and, often, no conscience,
A bad boss doesn’t necessarily spend every waking minute in a tirade, she pointed out. They know who to charm and who to attack. Usually, they are charming to their superiors or the company’s ownership and occasionally even will show that side to employees. Watch out, however.
“They can go from charming to bullying in a nanosecond,” Durre said.
Kennemer said another trend he noticed in the 2011 list is that leaders, when caught, often retaliated.
“An example is the Jon Peters case. From what I understand, when his assistant made her charges, he blackballed her in the industry,” he said.
Durre has specific advice in her book on what workers can do when faced with certain situations. But, ultimately, she, Kennemer and Adelman all have the same advice for people stuck in a toxic environment: get out.
“You can try to get transferred to another position, but you also should be ready to leave,” Kennemer said. “You have to think about your health.”
Essential reading for anyone who is being bullied at work
Tweet
Are You A Target of Workplace Bullying?
Download: What Every Target of Workplace Bullying Needs to Know.
Learn how To avoid the traps, stop bullies in their tracks and get your life back!
More Information
2 comments
Anonymous
February 2, 2012 at 11:12 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
A leopard won’t be able to change its spots.
Leonard Nolt
January 24, 2012 at 1:20 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I appreciate this annual report of bad bosses. Misbehaving bosses is a very serious problem across the country. Unfortunately one of your suggestions, that of reporting the problem to human resources, may not work. When it comes to bullying in the workplace, human resource departments are more likely to support the bully than put a stop to the problem.
I worked at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, ID for 30 years starting in 1976. St. Alphonsus is a part of the Trinity Health Care system headquatered in Novi, Michigan. In 2004 I became the target of a workplace bully. Both the bully and I worked in the respiratory care department. After a year of the bullying, no help from the department manager, and a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), I scheduled a meeting with human resources (HR) to report the problem. The person from HR in an e-mail, refused to listen to my side of the story even before we met. At the first meeting on Jan. 14, 2005 he spent all the time talking about unrelated topics.
Later he conducted an investigation, clearly manipulated to get pre-determined results. At the second meeting on May 19, 2005, he promised me a written report of the investigation, a chance to discuss it with the department manager, and he also promised that I would not have to work with the bully anymore. All the promises were broken. In July, 2005 I reported the PTSD injury to him again and he responded by threatening to terminate me.
The third meeting I had with the HR person on Oct. 4, 1005 was especially traumatic. In less than an hour he violated 18 Customer Service Standards, the Basic Conditions of Employment, as well as the Mission Statement of Trinity Health. He also violated the letter and spirit of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Red-faced and bellowing at me across the room in a small office he ordered me to lie about the PTSD injury if anyone asked. He also threatened to fire me if I talked about the abuse and bullying with any other employees in the respiratory care department or if I reported any more problems with the bully to either him or the department manager. Shortly after that meeting I started looking for another job. Of course by that time I had multiple symptoms of PTSD and was getting treatment from a psychologist of my choosing.
It’s important to note that even though the first diagnosis of PTSD was determined by a St .Alphonsus professional, I was never offered any protection from additional injury, no resolution to the problem that caused the injury, and my employer, even though a medical center, never offered me any treatment for the PTSD injury. Even though the problem and the PTSD injury was born and bred at St. Alphonsus, I had to seek, obtain, and pay for all my treatment myself.
I left there in 2006, and now after two years of medication and five years of counseling I’m doing well. I’m employed full time as a respiratory therapist in the same profession I was in before, but I had to learn how to do much of the work over again. One of the most destructive aspects of being the chronic target of a bully is that it destroys one’s confidence. After chronic bullying I found myself unable to do certain tasks. Other procedures that I had done numerous times a day for more than twenty years, whenever I did them it would seem as if I was doing it for the first time. My confidence had been close to entirely destroyed. I can so everything I need to do at my current job. However I don’t think my confidence will ever return to what it used to be. That supreme level of confidence is gone for good.
I would, in closing, suggest extreme caution in reporting bad bosses to human resources. In my experience at St. Alphonsus that’s where the worst bosses are. For more information about my experience check my blog under Workplace Psychological Abuse at http://www.leonardnolt.blogspot.com. Keep up the good work.
Leonard Nolt
Boise, ID