Cake Boss' Remy Gonzalez (second from right) arrested

I don’t watch a lot of reality TV so I’m not familiar with the “characters” involved in this latest fiasco, but apparently The Cake Boss’s brother-in-law, and supporting cast member, Remy Gonzalez was arrested a couple of weeks ago on charges of aggravated sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child. The reality show “Cake Boss” chronicles the inner workings of the family owned bakery run by the cake boss himself Buddy Valastro. Gonzalez is married to one of Buddy’s sisters.

TheWrap.com reports that a NJ law enforcement official is saying none of the sexual assault charges “had anything to do with the child, but they were in the house. Don’t ask me how old or male or female that child is, that’s information is sealed, but you can tell from the charges they were under age and present, which is why you have the endangerment.”

The charges in question stem from incidents involving Gonzalez and a teenager that took place during September of 2009 and March 2010.

Read the full story over at The Wrap.

Library of Congress settles sexual harassment case

I don’t know why we’d expect better management at the Library of Congress than anywhere else – maybe it’s because “Library of Congress” sounds so officially intellectual we think they’d be smarter than that. Apparently not. The San Francisco Employment Lawyer reports…

The highest library in the land, the United States Library of Congress, agreed to pay out $250,000 to Theresa Papademetriou earlier this month following a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the longtime employee last August. In the suit, Papademetriou accused Dr. Rubens Medina, former senior librarian, of “persistent harassment of female employees,” including verbal abuse and inappropriate touching.

She said that Medina had harassed at least seven women, to her knowledge, and that library officials did nothing to prevent the abuse or ease the hostile work environment, essentially ignoring complaints by library staff. With Medina’s harassment of coworkers increasing throughout 2006 and 2007, complaints from female staff members increased as well.

Papademetriou claims that library officials finally investigated Medina in 2008 and found that Medina had, indeed, behaved in an inappropriate manner towards female coworkers. However, Library of Congress officials failed to discipline him. In 2009, Papademetriou had had enough and filed the sexual harassment lawsuit in DC District Court.

As is par for the course when it comes to such settlements, Library officials are saying that the settlement is not an admission of guilt. Hmmm…I’m sure there’s a book somewhere on the shelves of the library that would dispute that sentiment. Read more about the settlement here.

Here’s the most recent reader submitted really bad boss story. After you’ve read it you’ll be asking yourself “would it have been that difficult for management to just get her the right chair in the first place?!?” Of course not – not for any kind of management with any sense, but we’re dealing with really bad bosses here. They’d rather lose an employee to illness and disgust than spend a few dollars on a chair. Priceless. Here’s the story as submitted by “Chairwhipped.”

My really bad boss story spans 9 months of hell (at a Big 10 university by the way), when I experienced nothing but excruciating pain while sitting at my desk all day. Mind you, a few months prior I had sat at another desk area (as a temporary employee) and was fine, but the ergonomics of this new area had been adjusted to the former shorter person who had worked there.  At any rate, due to the pain that I could no longer tolerate after having endured it for months and trying to adjust things to help, I contacted our internal HR person to bring it up to her. I got no response from her, so after 2 weeks I inquired with her again as to what I could do.  She brought this up to our “really bad boss” and he proceeded from there to be the c*ck blocker from hell.

I spoke with him in person and his point blank answer was for me to have my doctor write a note requesting that an ergonomic chair be ordered for me. He made a point to point out that management and support people have different height chairs.  (This is where I wanted to point out that he is a douche, and I am a tall woman with a size 40 I cup breasts to hold up and that a chair that hits me mid-back below the shoulder blades does not cut it!)  I proceeded to see my primary physician, she wrote the note, I supplied the note to him and nothing happened from there.  About a month went by and I asked if anything was going to proceed due to my conversation w/ him and my note from my doctor. His idea was to completely ignore me from that point forward until I finally contacted the ergonomics group where I work to help me.

Once they got involved, he had to comply with their recommendations. Slowly I got help in raising up my desk items and a few minor adjustments, but in the meantime I was in searing physical pain that forced me into physical therapy for which I had to pay- not my employer (whose fault this sh*tty workstation was).  I did physical therapy for 2 months waiting for more answers and assistance.  Finally at the 7 month mark the ergonomic dept. gave a formal recommendation for a chair, for which my douchebag boss already had the note (that he asked for!) 7 months prior.  An entire month went by with no conversation from him, no response that he had ordered the chair- nothing.

I finally went to external HR (outside of our dept) to force them to get him to give me an answer.  He gave me an answer. His answer was first: that I should never go to outside HR to ask for help since he is my HR person for our dept. (what the f*ck???!) and that he only received the request from ergonomics 1 month ago and that had not allowed him time to respond. (what??!!!).  This was his douchey, sh*tty answer to my now 7-8 months of pain, physical therapy and fighting to get a damn correct chair.  I had finally had it. I wanted to go postal on this mofo, but instead I brought in my own high-backed chair and informed him that this was a temporary situation.  It still took him 2 weeks later to move his ass and even order the item (in the meantime he blamed everyone but himself for the 8 f-ing months of delays).  I finally got this chair 9 months after my doctor wrote the note that he requested himself! This %^$** should have been fired for the way he handled this as an “HR” person.  He is a financial person who wears an HR hat that he should not have because he is absolutely horrible in dealing with human beings.

Since then, he has been a complete a-hole to deal with, c*ck blocking everything in all directions because he demands complete and total control over everyone and everything under him. I only took this stupid, underling, low-paying job because I had no choice- it was a job and the economy is horrible.  Prior to this I had been in management for 10 years and sat in a high-backed chair- no physical problems.  I feel sorry for him that he feels so small as to need to control so heavily. He’s a really bad boss that needs to retire.

Sincerely,

Chairwhipped

Do you have a really bad boss story? Send it to denised@reallybadboss.com and we’ll feature it in a future post.

It’s no surprise that wherever you’ve got people in power you’ll find people subjected to their inappropriate sexual whims. What might be surprising is the way sexual harassment is handled in various countries. The Economic Times of India recently did a piece about varying sexual harassment laws around the world. Here’s what they found:

UK – The UK has an Equality and Human Rights Commission and victims of sexual harassment can file their complaints with the commission. The UK’s Sex Discrimination Act also protects employees from customers, suppliers and other non-employee contacts they may deal with during the course of a day.

China – In China a woman who is harassed at work can report the harassment to police. It was only in 2005 that The Protection of Rights and Interest of Women law was amended to recognize sexual harassment as a violation of the law.

Japan – In Japan, if a victim is unsatisfied with a company’s response to a claim of sexual harassment, he/she can seek monetary damages from both the company and the perpetrator.

Click here to read more about sexual harassment policies around the globe.

Remember the anti-bullying bill New York legislators proposed a while back? Here’s a refresher..

If legislators have their way it might soon become illegal to be a bully boss – well at least in New York anyway. The legislation in question defines a bully boss as “someone who is motivated by malice and who is destructive and injurious.”  And, if approved by the NY state assembly next year the bill would allow bullied employees to sue for damages.

Well, the bill died in the New York Assembly Labor Committee. The bill would have created a cause of action for bullying in the workplace, but opponents say the bill was ill-defined and overly broad.

Bullying is tough to define and even tougher to prove. Maybe legislation would have deterred a few bully bosses and employees, but odds are, probably not many as we’d like to think. In my opinion, the problem is two-fold. It boils down to rude, arrogant, and usually incompetent people, choosing to make the lives of others a living hell – just because they can. Corporations and HR Managers who choose to turn a blind eye, compound the problem by simultaneously empowering bullies and bad bosses while stripping employees of power, pride and morale. Unless and until businesses consistently nurture positive workplaces where good management and respect are the order of the day, no amount of legislation, passed or not, will make a bit of difference.

Read more about the blocked bully bill here.

What could be worse than getting fired? Try getting fired by email. Never you say? Guess again. Now more than ever employers are using email as a less confrontational, better documented way to give employees the heave-ho. Kaitlin Madden of Careerbuilder.com likens it to tactless breakups from exes and says employers use this method to avoid confrontation and to leave a paper trail.

So, what do you do if you’re unceremoniously dumped via email? Madden shares the story of an entertainment publicist who, in the midst of preparing for her client’s album launch, received an email from him saying he could no longer afford her services. Although the curt dismissal came as a complete shock, the publicist took the high road, contacting her former client –by phone- and expressed her appreciation for having worked with him. Classy.

Although most of us would be tempted to do the exact opposite, Madden suggests that even in situations as insensitive as email-firings employees take the high road. Regardless of how true it may be, telling the employer who fired you via email that  she/he’s a coward is never a good idea. It won’t get you unfired. For a list of additional ways to handle an unceremonious firing, read more of Madden’s post here.

What’s the worst way you’ve ever been fired? Share your story in the comment section, or email it to denised@reallybadboss.com.

This one isn’t quite as dramatic as the flight attendant who flew the coop, or Arnetta the Moodsetta‘s on air meltdown, but if it’s real, it’s a pretty clever way to quit.

Jenny works, correction worked, for a jerk. Apparently she’s had enough, and decided to quit with the assistance of  messages on a dry erase board.  Here’s how Jenny quit her jerk of a bad boss. P.S. She emailed it to the entire office! (Images via thechive.com)

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See the rest of Jenny’s dry erase board resignation here…