Wednesday, July 16, 2008; D02

Unbearable Bosses

Odds are perhaps one in 10 that you've got a bad boss. And you may be stuck with him for a while: The tightening economy provides fewer new gigs for you -- and your boss.

One in five workers feel a lot of pressure and one-third feel some pressure to stay with a bad boss, according to a new Working America survey.

Ten percent of the 1,000 workers surveyed rated their boss at or near the bottom -- from zero to 4 on a 10-point scale.

"I think it is low, actually," said Karen Nussbaum, the boss at Working America. She said many more people identified nasty boss behaviors than gave a low rating. One-fifth of workers surveyed say the boss takes credit for their work, and one in eight labeled their boss as lazy or dishonest.

"The bad economy . . . just gives impunity for bad bosses. They know that people are afraid."

Yet the survey also found that 31 percent say their bosses are great, rating a 10. The average was 7.8.

Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is launching its third annual bad-boss contest, in which workers write anonymous stories of mistreatment and misdeeds. The contest runs through mid-August at http://workingamerica.org/badboss.

-- Vickie Elmer