MSNBC: As joblessness creeps higher, some employers abuse growing power

Hard times drive some mean bosses over edge
As joblessness creeps higher, some employers abuse growing power

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25918491/



By Eve Tahmincioglu

It’s hot. The economy stinks. And many bosses across the country seem to be caving under the pressure.

That’s bad news for workers like Mike, a senior-level employee for a communications company in the Northeast.

Mike, who did not want his real name used for fear of reprimand, says his boss has always been a Machiavellian, arrogant and condescending jerk, but lately he’s 10 times worse.

“He has no problem reminding me or anyone else that the economy is bad, we are losing clients, the job market is awful, hint-hint, and if we don't work our (butts) to the bone, not like we haven't been already, then trouble will begin,” he says. The remarks, he says, are “vague enough to not be accountable, yet specific enough to be threatening and keep everyone on edge.”

Marc Goormastic, the president of an executive search firm in Reno, Nev., tells of a CEO “threatening to throw a sales manager out of a second-story window because he hadn’t made his quota of personal sales calls.”

The behavior, he adds, “was totally unprofessional, and illegal.”