I have been trying to find some laws regarding psychological harrassment and have been unsuccessful. My employer has on numerous occassions yelled at almost all of the employees in the office and makes comments like "it is amazing what you can do when you sit down and shut up" or talks to one employee about another saying things like " why are you so unhappy? you are just like so-and-so, she is always unhappy, or she calls people turtles meaning they work slow. she is extremely rude and if you try to talk to her she yells at you and tells you you are not a teamplayer and to get out of her office. I have tried going to the CEO but it seems to fall on deaf ears. I am in Florida. Any advice you can give would be wonderful.

While being verbally abusive can be seen as harrassing behavior, it is not illegal unless a person is singled out because of a protected status, such as age, race, religion, gender, disability, national origin, etc.

My employer (restaurant owner) just got extremely verbally abusive to me at the end of my shift. He was drunk as usual and started screaming at me in front of customers, telling me that he would see me one day eating out of dumpster. I was the only female wait staff at this restaurant and he never liked me, said men were better waiters. He was in my face screaming at me with his usual beligerent self. I went home crying, so upset. He said that nobody there liked me, that I was a loser and would never make it anywhere in life. This is was because he asked me once again to stay and do side work after I was the first one in today and am always the one in first, doing all the side work and then asked to stay last and do more side work while he lets all the male waiters go home. He takes advantage of me, thinking that all of the side work is a woman's job. I am still so upset at him. He was in my face yelling at me in front of everyone. Do I have any sort of case against him? This is in California. Thanks.

"said men were better waiters"

That sounds like discrimination against gender and if you have someone else that can prove he said that then you might have a case, I'm not sure though.

Unfortunately, there are other factors that must be considered before one can conclude discrimination. For excample, under federal law, an employer must have at least 15 employees before it will be required to comply with discrimination laws. Another factor is to prove that it is more than a personality dispute. For proof, she must show that she has a concern of discrimination and that she has asked for assistance AND that it has been refused. How does one do that? She must place it in writing. Keep in mind, this letter is not required in order to file a claim of discrimination. However, it is probably required in order to win the case. www.eeoc.gov (http://www.eeoc.gov).