Time off for Cancer? Not for This Bad Boss Winner

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/08/22/time-off-for-cancer-not-for-this-bad-boss-winner/

by Mike Hall, Aug 22, 2007

There are bad bosses, but then there are some real jerks as we found out from the hundreds of workers who sent their tales of boss horror to Working America’s second annual My Bad Boss Contest. Working America is the 1.6-million-member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.



The best of the worst—or is it the worst of the bad?—goes to Pete’s boss, an Illinois tyrant who callously threw away the paid leave paperwork Pete had filed, leaving him without paid leave or disability benefits for those days. Pete, the father of three small children, has a rare form of cancer and needed paid leave to help pay his family’s bills.

Pete’s story received 1,276 votes from visitors to the Bad Boss site and beat out five other semifinalists, including a waitress whose boss knowingly hired her stalker and “Doboy,” whose boss wanted him to keep working and so didn’t tell him his pregnant wife had called, bleeding and needing to go to the hospital. Pete wins a weeklong getaway in one of more than 500 locations plus $1,000 to put toward airfare. (Workers may have another avenue to deal with bad bosses besides the annual contest. Check out this Los Angeles Times story on legislative efforts to rein-in workplace tyrants.)

The “Most Outrageous Story,” selected by the Working America staff, is the shocking tale of a help desk worker whose firm’s emergency evacuation plan forced him to stay at his station when the plant caught fire. “Steaming Mad” wins a trip to Las Vegas and $500 in folding money.

Karen Nussbaum, executive director of Working America, says:

Of the hundreds of stories we received, virtually all left you shaking your head. While this contest is partly a fun way to vent, it also shines a not-very-flattering light on the American workplace. When bosses are routinely putting worker—and customer—health and safety a distant second to making a buck, that points to the need for real change.

No doubt that Pete would like to see a change, a change of bosses. Not only did the boss throw away the paperwork—costing Pete both his disability and vacation benefits for those days—but then he lied about ever receiving it. Says Pete:

It’s hard enough just trying to stay alive, let alone trying to pull knives out of not only my back, but the backs of my wife and children, too.

FULL story at link.

[Beaverhausen]

1. I am really grateful my boss treats me well

She has her own family issues to deal with so she has empathy.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

3. Been there, have had that done to me. In all honesty I was new on

the job - a little less than two months when I found out the first week of July (this year) that I have breast cancer. (This was a company I had done business with for over 15 years when I freelanced. I took the job for the non-existent bennies - they lied in the interview) Initially they were pissed that I asked off for a mammogram but since my mother is Stage 4 Breast Cancer but they said they would dock my pay for half a day (only took an hour) and off I went.

One week later, after biopsies, etc. I got the bad news. Called into work and said I was going to need a double mastectomy ASAP and would need more time off. I wasn't expecting them to pay me but I did think they would be a bit more supportive knowing how badly I needed that job. I was informed during that call my services were no longer needed.

Can't say it wasn't totally unexpected but it still has put a crimp into everything. This small company is co-owned by two people who hate each others' guts and it made for a very stressful work atmosphere. Not a fun place to work but it did pay the bills. They both could easily be in the top ten worse bosses.

A good boss is worth their weight in gold.

[Berry Cool]

4. What an awful story.

I thought my friend had it bad when she had to go get a breast biopsy, and the next day her boss was ragging her out over something she overlooked at work, as if she wasn't having a hard time crowding out her worries from her mind. Sure enough, it's cancer. She tells her boss she's getting a lumpectomy, and her boss wants to know whether she'll need more than a day off work.

More than a day off work, for surgery to remove a breast tumor and some lymph nodes? Uh, yeah, that would be nice. She says she plans to take it (she had the time coming).

Her boss's reaction: "I've had surgery before and had stuff removed before. It's nothing."

Believe it or not, this was a female boss, too. Acted as if getting a tumor removed from your breast was the equivalent of having your tonsils out.

[Ishoutandscream2]

5. Oh good God!! Bet that boss votes Republican

Just a hunch.

[brentspeak]

2. k and r

:kick:

[flying rabbit]

6. times two

:kick: