Disturbing News

So to preface this post I am not against civil rights and I think that they are an important part of being an American, but when the system fails a good friend it is time to expand the different laws to protect all.

A little Backstory:

I have a friend that works for a security company, I will be keeping both anonymous to protect both parties, where his work day is a complete and utter hell on earth.  I learned today that he is being harassed and bullied at work to the point that his depression has gotten out of hand.  It started with extra work, he claims to be doing the job of three people  for the pay of one.   Progressing to comments about his work demeanor and how it is not good for the office.  This point I can understand as it is not professional to let your inner feelings dictate how you present yourself on the job, but still if you are over worked sometimes feelings can creep into your outward appearance.

This has been going on for a while and has led to a feeling of "I can't do anything right" on his end.  About two months ago his boss asked that he not wear his company issued firearm to the office because it is not a safe environment.  Basically this boss that is starting to up his work load and tell him how bad he is at his job is afraid that he has pushed him too far that he might be using said weapon to cause harm to said boss.

Skip forward a couple of months and we reach the point where the bullying has gotten out of hand.  Now everyone in the office is giving said friend a hard time about not being able to come to work armed saying "He will shoot everyone"  and the cherry on top is the boss has created a jar where anyone that forgets something has their name put into the jar to buy pizza on Fridays.   Friend is not a jerk and refuses to put any names in the jar because he doesn't believe in negative reinforcement, but everyone in office keeps putting his name in the jar because he is A) doing three different jobs and B) because they are all starting to follow the bosses example of picking on him.

It gets worse but this is already sounding like a job from hell, and in my mind it is the boss trying to get him to quit so the company doesn't have to pay out unemployment benefits.

Now this is the part that got me upset....

In our state there is no law for bullying/harassment in the workplace unless you are a minority of some sort.  So he cannot pursue legal means of ending the harassment in the work place.  So because of this he either has to lose his income and quit, which is what it looks like he is going to do, or grit his teeth and continue to work for a company that thinks it is okay to create this type of atmosphere.


What would you all do?  Is there any advice I can give him?  Has this happened to you before?

Leave comments below and let's start a conversation.