I am a sales professional who is employed with a company whose corporate office is in New Jersey. Over the past year my boss has been so verbally abusive that I could no longer take it so today I quit (never have done this before on the spot). I also have lost most of my self esteem and saw my family dr. today for depression. Family life is good, however my professional career just wasn't going where I wanted it to - AND - I could no longer mentally handle my boss. I had not been written up prior to now. Do I have any chance of collecting unemployment while I seek mental/medical help for my depression? I have never been in this position before.

Your advice is greatly needed............thanks.

Unfortunately, probably not.

It is not illegal to be a jerk or a poor boss. You quit... this typically nullifies unemployment.

However, it never hurts to try and the folks that award your benefits are notorious for helping out the unemployed. It doesn't hurt to try.

Any idea what I should list on my application for benefits - Constructive Discharge maybe??

Be honest.

I had one boss that was wanting me to help commit felonies. (stealing restauraunt equipment)

Any idea what I should list on my application for benefits - Constructive Discharge maybe??

Nothing in your post suggests a constructive discharge. The term "constructive discharge" describes a situation in which an employee is forced to quit a job because the employer has made working conditions extremely intolerable. Working conditions may be considered intolerable if, for example, the employee is discriminated against or harassed, or if he or she suffers a negative change in pay, benefits, or workload for reasons that are not performance-related. In most cases, an employee who voluntarily leaves a company—as opposed to one whose employment is terminated by the company against his or her will—is not entitled to unemployment benefits.

my daughter is a bartender and has a verbally abusive boss. he'll also pretend to punch them in the face and stop a couple of inches short of contact. if he discovers they really don't like it it only makes him do it more. he never speaks in a normal tone, he screams everything. he'll get right in their faces and scream and back them into a corner and keep screaming. if they ask him to stop he just screams 'I'M THE BOSS. I CAN GET IN YOUR FACE IF I WANT TO. I'M THE MANAGER. I CAN SCREAM OBSCENITIES IN YOUR FACE IF I WANT. I'M THE BOSS.' Despite his obvious need for psychological help is there anything she can do? she has politely asked him to quit which makes him do it more. most people just quit and find another job, but she's taking 17hrs in college and doesn't have time to job hunt. this evening when she called me in tears i called the corporate hdqtrs to see if the owners were aware of his behaviour. he was out of the office so i left a message. 15 minutes later the screamer sent my daughter home and told her he was taking her off the schedule for the rest of the weekend because she "had her mommy fight her battles.' she didn't ask me to call corporate, but i see no other way to handle it. something needs to be done about the manager. any helpful ideas?

my daughter is a bartender and has a verbally abusive boss. he'll also pretend to punch them in the face and stop a couple of inches short of contact. if he discovers they really don't like it it only makes him do it more. he never speaks in a normal tone, he screams everything. he'll get right in their faces and scream and back them into a corner and keep screaming. if they ask him to stop he just screams 'I'M THE BOSS. I CAN GET IN YOUR FACE IF I WANT TO. I'M THE MANAGER. I CAN SCREAM OBSCENITIES IN YOUR FACE IF I WANT. I'M THE BOSS.' Despite his obvious need for psychological help is there anything she can do? she has politely asked him to quit which makes him do it more. most people just quit and find another job, but she's taking 17hrs in college and doesn't have time to job hunt. this evening when she called me in tears i called the corporate hdqtrs to see if the owners were aware of his behaviour. he was out of the office so i left a message. 15 minutes later the screamer sent my daughter home and told her he was taking her off the schedule for the rest of the weekend because she "had her mommy fight her battles.' she didn't ask me to call corporate, but i see no other way to handle it. something needs to be done about the manager. any helpful ideas?


Being a jerk is not illegal. Unfortunately, he isn't breaking any laws when he yells.

There may be a case about the threatened physical abuse, but without him actually making contact, that would be tough.

You really need to let your adult daughter fight her own battle. Give her help and guidance... but let her do the fighting.

i have been letting her fight her own battles and he backed off for awhile. she's been there about a year. but yesterday when he backed her into a corner screaming obscenities in her face in front of restaurant customers and made fun of her when she started crying, mom mode kicked in. nobody should be legally allowed to treat someone like that, especially a manager treating a 23-yr old female. that is wrong on SO many levels.

I am not unsympathetic; however, "mom mode" needs to kick back out again. It will NOT help your daugther to have it appear that she needs mom to help her fight her battles, and legally her employer has no obligation to talk to you.

In fact, and this is hard to write, your interference could be grounds for her termination.

Look at it this way... if her boyfriend came into the bar and threatened the manager, would it be appropriate to fire her. Of course.

You basically did the same... a disinterested third party that threatened his job creates a very strange circumstance that may have negative recourse against your daughter.

i didn't threaten him at all. i called them and spoke to them as an adult; rationally, calmly, and merely expressing concern. if i owned a restaurant and kept losing good employees because of a bad manager, who then covers his tracks, i would appreciate it if someone let me know what was going on. and if everybody that gets verbally abused just keeps quitting instead of doing anything about it it will never change. this is actually the two biggest problems in the U.S. today in my opinion. nobody teaches respect anymore and nobody wants to get involved.

I do not disagree with you in principle, and for the record, I have a 23 year old daughter myself.

However, that does not change the fact that it is her responsibility, not yours, to deal with this; that having mom step in can have negative repercussions for your daughter; and that the employer has no legal obligation to discuss her employment with anyone but her.

Actually, the TWC has held on numerous occasions that a verbally abusive work environment may qualify as good cause attributable to the employer, thereby deeming you eligible to collect.

The huge caveat, however, is whether or not you sought some resolution of this working condition before resigning. In other words, did you complain to him/her? To his/her supervisor? To HR?

Below is the link to TWC precedent decisions. Unfortunately, you can cut & paste the applicable decisions, so you should look at section VL 515.80.

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ui/appl/vl.pdf

The huge caveat, however, is whether or not you sought some resolution of this working condition before resigning. In other words, did you complain to him/her? To his/her supervisor? To HR?


If anybody complained, I certainly hope it was the adult child, who was the employee, and not the mother (the latest poster here). :p

Does verbal abuse ever get deemed to be harrsement?

I work for a small company which is part of a larger private company and our boss is regularly abusive, using many F*** type words to all the staff. Makes out our jobs are in jeopardy and applies as much stress to us as she can. Almost feels like bullying. I have been sick and gone to counselling due to the stress. I have been threaten by my boss that I have had enough time to get better!

Is there any actions I can take, do I have any protections?

I have reposted letafrack's question into it's own thread; responders, please respond to the new thread and not here.