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Question

I am the head of business administration/HR at a small start-up in California. I am working under terrible conditions. My employer, the CEO, is visciously verbally abusive to myself and others, makes baseless accusations of wrong-doing (verbally and in writing) against myself and other employees, forces me to take actions that may make me a party to violation of labor laws and/or to violate the normal code of business ethics and my personal code of ethics. I want to quit before this experience causes permanent harm to my reputation and well-being, but I cannot afford to walk away without a new job, or without reasonable assurance that I might be able to collect unemployment. If I quit and file for unemployment, the CEO will fight such a filing using any means necessary and will attempt to sue me or institute some other means of retaliation. I just want to get out of there as fast as possible. What should I do? How should I prepare for the backlash that will follow?

Submitted: 273 days and 9 hours ago.
Category: Employment Law
Value: $30
Status: CLOSED
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Optional Information

Berkeley, California

Already Tried:
I have left phone messages with 4 employee law attorneys in my area - some I have called twice over the last 1.5 weeks - but I have received no return calls. My employer is completely unreasonable - too long a story for this text box. Nothing can be done to repair the working relationship. I am making copies of dozens of emails in which he makes statements which could compromise the company over legal issues, in which he berates, accuses, bullies and threatens myself and others, and other documentation of outrageous behavior that could possibly be used against me (or be used by me in my own defense).

Posted by INFOLAWYER 273 days and 9 hours ago.

Answer

If you resign you wont collect unemployment here. consider having a lawyer negotiate a severance or transfer for you. If the harassment is based on your race, gender or age you can also file an eeoc complaint. see www.eeoc.gov

273 days and 9 hours ago.

Reply

If I can't afford to quit without getting unemployment, then I surely cannot afford to hire a lawyer to negotiate a severance agreement. The start-up I work for has no money for cash severance packages. All I want to do is get out of this hellhole without having my mentally unstable CEO cook up some frivolous law suit out of spite - he's done it before with other employees in the past (his favorite battlecries are "he/she will never work again! I will drive him/her into bankruptcy!").

Posted by INFOLAWYER 273 days and 9 hours ago.

Answer

You can have a lawyer represent you on contingency fee basis so you are out out of pocket.

 

You can look for another position while continuing to work there.

273 days and 9 hours ago.

Reply

I guess I'm just screwed. My job search of the last 8 MONTHS has yielded nothing. If I approach him with an attorney or if I go the labor board to complain when he refuses to give me my final pay (he's forced me to do that to several others), he will come back at me with both barrels blazing. The BOD has no control over him - if he feels like taking action that's in violation of our Bylaws or Articles of Incoroporation, he just does it and no one does anything to stop, discipline or remove him.

Accepted Answer

To get a change you need to take it up through a lawyer or the labor board. It wont change on its own and with any action there is a risk of retaliation. I am sorry, but you need to decide which course you want to take.

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Expert: INFOLAWYER
Pos. Feedback: 95.4 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 2/24/2009

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