On the Job

One way to deal with an abusive boss is to quit, but what are other options?

Q I have worked for a family-owned business for two years. The problem is that the owner has a drinking problem. When he's drunk, he likes to fight with his employees. He also usually starts his day by cursing his staff. Sometimes he acknowledges that we do good work, but not often and even then he still will end up cursing us because he drinks during the workday. We enjoy the work we do, and jobs are hard to find, so we stay and take it. Do we as employees have any rights, any recourse against the employer other than just quitting? Also, if we do quit, is there any way to collect unemployment compensation while we look for new work?

ADeclan C. Leonard, an Arlington lawyer who has represented both employers and workers on workplace issues, said, "There's probably not a whole lot legally that could be done against the boss unless something he did in his drunken rage would be deemed discriminatory," such as singling out some employee for abuse because of his or her race, religion, gender or nationality.

"I would get several employees together to try to rally family members to intercede with the owner," he said. "You could point out that the business is not going to succeed in the long run" with his continued behavior and that "he's going to drive you away."

As for collecting unemployment pay, Leonard said that generally "you cannot leave voluntarily and hope to get unemployment compensation." Yet in this case, Leonard said it might be possible that an unemployment compensation board "would find that these employees did not leave of their own free will but rather left to escape an intolerable working environment."

"The best thing to do would be . . . to show that you took every action to rectify the situation," he said. "If they quit, they should state their reasons in writing [to the company] so they can present that to the unemployment commission."

-- Kenneth Bredemeier

E-mail your workplace questions to Kenneth Bredemeier at bredemeier@washpost.com. Discuss workplace issues with him at 11 a.m. Wednesday at www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.