Working America's "Bad Boss" Winners Announced

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)A cancer victim cheated out of paid leave and a worker forced to stay - and work - in a burning building are this year’s winners in the 2nd annual “My Bad Boss” contest, sponsored by the AFL-CIO’s Working America. “Of the hundreds of stories we received, virtually all left you shaking your head,” said Karen Nussbaum, executive director of Working America - the 1.6 million member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. “While this contest is partly a fun way to vent, it also shines a not-very-flattering light on the American workplace.  When bosses are routinely putting worker - and customer - health and safety a distant second to making a buck, that points to the need for real change.” Pete, the winner of the “Peoples’ Choice” Grand Prize, is a father of three who was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.  He put in for paid leave and disability benefits at a time when his family desperately needed the money.  His boss threw away the paperwork. Pete received 1,276 Bad Boss contest votes, besting five other semifinalists including a waitress whose boss knowingly hired her stalker. Pete wins a weeklong getaway plus $1,000 toward airfare. The “Most Outrageous Story,” a category selected by staff of Working America, went to the author of “Business is Burning and so are the Employees,” who was the least senior member of the help desk staff at a plant that caught fire.  The plant’s “emergency” plan involved having one person in the office leave every five minutes in order of seniority. This lucky (to be alive) winner gets a trip to Las Vegas and $500 to spend.  For more outrageous finalists, click here. Other contenders included a woman whose boss had her making pizza between contractions and another whose boss forbade calling health authorities as workers stood in a flood of sewage for nearly a week - while preparing food. All runners up will receive the famed “Bad Boss Survival Kit,” complete with earplugs to tune out the yelling and a rear-view mirror - so they can always see the boss coming.