Wigglewigglewiggle
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- California
Hi,
I have worked as a clerk at a small, family-owned business for several years. It's a very small operation - there are only three employees besides myself. For the most part, it's been a decent job for me. My boss has been very kind to me over the years, and done wonderful things for my family as well. But lately, our work environment has become more toxic and hostile, as my boss will constantly bring up politics and try to say the most volatile things in order to get a rise out of me or the other workers. Lately he's been proving to be unapologetically racist... He will loudly and proudly say terrible things about blacks, latinos and asians (he is white). When a non-white customer is present, my boss will be very kind to them and treat them like he's known them forever... but when they're not around, he has no problem making comments about the "dirty mexicans stealing American jobs", how "there's mexicans moving in down the street, I bet they're gonna steal my stuff!", how the Chinese created the coronavirus because they "eat bats" ... and so on. He casually uses the N-word and has made disparaging remarks about homosexuality, calling gays "freaks of nature" among other things. He will bring up political topics entirely unprompted, and say the most divisive things he can think of, usually resulting in an argument with at least one of us employees. It has become an extremely toxic environment to be in - some days are peaceful enough and we all get along and work together, then the next day it's relentless with racist rants and chaos. With politics being the way they have been these past few years, he really enjoys bringing up divisive topics, starting arguments, and saying derogatory things about other races as often as he can.
Earlier this week was the breaking point for me. Completely unprompted, he began ranting about the Black Lives Matter movement, saying things like "if black lives matter so much why are they all killing each other in Chicago? Why are they murdering hundreds of their own babies every day" (referring to abortion). This went on for a while and I became increasingly upset. We ended up in an argument, which only resulted in him doubling down and saying even more racist things, this time about the Chinese. He said that since the coronavirus was "created" and spread by China, "maybe we should start killing all the Chinese people". Whether that was a serious suggestion or simply an attempt to get under my skin, I'm not sure, but regardless I'd had enough. I took off my apron, clocked out, told him "I quit" and walked out the door. There was plenty of work left to do, but I couldn't stand to be in that building for another second. Working there has caused me an inordinate amount of stress in recent months, resulting in many panic attacks as well as exacerbating my depression due to the incredibly toxic environment he has created.
I don't wish for this post to sound political - it's not about the politics, it's about the work environment. If he simply kept his thoughts to himself and left me to do my work, we wouldn't have a problem. But he seems to enjoy getting a rise out of people, so he does this almost every day, and I reached a breaking point. There was one other employee who shared the same concerns as me, but he was fired a few weeks ago (unrelated reasons).
Now I'm wondering, does what happened here amount to "constructive dismissal"? As I understand it, that's when an employee resigns due to an employer creating a hostile work environment... which sounds like an apt description of what transpired. But I'm not a lawyer. If this was constructive dismissal, what should I do?
I would greatly appreciate any advice on this. Thank you for reading.
I have worked as a clerk at a small, family-owned business for several years. It's a very small operation - there are only three employees besides myself. For the most part, it's been a decent job for me. My boss has been very kind to me over the years, and done wonderful things for my family as well. But lately, our work environment has become more toxic and hostile, as my boss will constantly bring up politics and try to say the most volatile things in order to get a rise out of me or the other workers. Lately he's been proving to be unapologetically racist... He will loudly and proudly say terrible things about blacks, latinos and asians (he is white). When a non-white customer is present, my boss will be very kind to them and treat them like he's known them forever... but when they're not around, he has no problem making comments about the "dirty mexicans stealing American jobs", how "there's mexicans moving in down the street, I bet they're gonna steal my stuff!", how the Chinese created the coronavirus because they "eat bats" ... and so on. He casually uses the N-word and has made disparaging remarks about homosexuality, calling gays "freaks of nature" among other things. He will bring up political topics entirely unprompted, and say the most divisive things he can think of, usually resulting in an argument with at least one of us employees. It has become an extremely toxic environment to be in - some days are peaceful enough and we all get along and work together, then the next day it's relentless with racist rants and chaos. With politics being the way they have been these past few years, he really enjoys bringing up divisive topics, starting arguments, and saying derogatory things about other races as often as he can.
Earlier this week was the breaking point for me. Completely unprompted, he began ranting about the Black Lives Matter movement, saying things like "if black lives matter so much why are they all killing each other in Chicago? Why are they murdering hundreds of their own babies every day" (referring to abortion). This went on for a while and I became increasingly upset. We ended up in an argument, which only resulted in him doubling down and saying even more racist things, this time about the Chinese. He said that since the coronavirus was "created" and spread by China, "maybe we should start killing all the Chinese people". Whether that was a serious suggestion or simply an attempt to get under my skin, I'm not sure, but regardless I'd had enough. I took off my apron, clocked out, told him "I quit" and walked out the door. There was plenty of work left to do, but I couldn't stand to be in that building for another second. Working there has caused me an inordinate amount of stress in recent months, resulting in many panic attacks as well as exacerbating my depression due to the incredibly toxic environment he has created.
I don't wish for this post to sound political - it's not about the politics, it's about the work environment. If he simply kept his thoughts to himself and left me to do my work, we wouldn't have a problem. But he seems to enjoy getting a rise out of people, so he does this almost every day, and I reached a breaking point. There was one other employee who shared the same concerns as me, but he was fired a few weeks ago (unrelated reasons).
Now I'm wondering, does what happened here amount to "constructive dismissal"? As I understand it, that's when an employee resigns due to an employer creating a hostile work environment... which sounds like an apt description of what transpired. But I'm not a lawyer. If this was constructive dismissal, what should I do?
I would greatly appreciate any advice on this. Thank you for reading.
