I work in Wisconsin, recently my boss has become very rude with me, calling my cell phone after I leave when my 40 is up and physically yelling at me. If I quit, can i get unemployment?

by Kim Bruesch

(Marinette, WI)

Now it has been almost 2 weeks and he has barely talked to me, he just gets mad and throws things and slams doors. Last week we had a big assignment due at work. Being I am the only designer at work because the other one quit because of this I had to work a few hours at night. Being as how I had the extra hours I left early on Friday as the boss didn’t want overtime. He then called me 45 minutes later to physically yell at me about how I was wrong and to get back to work. Now he won’t talk to me at all. It is usually smart remarks and walks away. I have done nothing but good here and there has been 6 people in and out of here in my department since the year and a half almost that I have been here. He is a major hot head and I can’t take it anymore. What do i do??

Hi Kim,

Have you read what good cause means?

I do understand that many people avoid the effort required to remove any doubt that good cause to quit existed because they are more fearful of escalating the problem than the problem itself, but……if there are higher authorities above your boss (HR, a manager above your manager, etc.) I think following the procedures in the employee handbook for reporting such things is the way to go. You are basically following a progressive course of action of putting the employer on notice just like they would do if you were in violation of a policy addressing “workplace harassment” or “inappropriate conduct”.

Wisconsin has so many statutes and provisions they are difficult to search, but the upside of all those provisions is Wisconsin had a recipiency rate of over 57% last year…compared to the national average of 37%.

If you haven’t already begun to document these “outburst” and start climbing the ladder with attempts to resolve your problem, do so now. If nothing works quickly, then consider filing an EEOC complaint. Workplace harassment does not always require that the harassment be sexual in nature.

What I’m suggesting to you does not mean you couldn’t get unemployment if you just quit, but not doing it will definitely minimize your chances simply because you did not try to correct the situation to preserve the employment. It is generally expected of us, if we are truly desirous of continuing employment, that we try to fix things before we up and quit.

Taking action shifts the burden of proof to the employer when our efforts fail.

By the way, how long do you think your behavior would be tolerated if you stopped speaking to your boss, started slamming doors and throwing things…..you might be put on notice immediately…or more likely be shown the door which could be a risk for an employer if they didn’t want to pay unemployment benefits.

The logic is the same for employees…only reversed.