Anyone else with a boss from hell? Please join me for a rant!

[Josie22]

Need to have a little rant. Am 38 weeks and gave up works two weeks ago. My boss and I don't get on (he doesn't get on with anyone and literally has no friends - I would pity him if he wasn't so horrible and rude) and he has always acted with disgust towards me since I told him I was pg and has gone on to hire my maternity replacement based on child bearing age - he even asked one youngish girl who came for a job interview if she was married or thinking of having children - despite the fact this is illegal and he knows it. Anyway, payday arrived and I received nothing. I called to ask what had happened and it turns out he doesn't really want to pay me for holiday - that I am entitled to. I had been offered my wages all in one go but declined as it would mean I lost out on more than £1,000 due to tax etc (the girl I replaced who left to have a baby took everything in one go because she knew he might try to stop paying her at some point).

I am now in limbo not sure how much money I am getting, when it will be paid and how it will be paid. Am so fed up. This is the last thing that I need right now. Plus one of my other bosses has had a proper shouting match with him today about it all which makes me feel very guilty. When I spoke to him this am he hung up on me (I wasn't being rude - just asking when I could expect to be paid). Grrrrrr - its a good job I am not getting my bp taken today as it would be through the roof!!!

Is anyone else having to deal with a nightmare boss while pg. Pls feel free to rant away!

What a knobber he is, why don't you try the Employment/hr section i'm sure some one can give you some useful advice.

Dont worry hun...I am having similar day...but I was dismiss on payrises and stuff as I am pg....just not right...If I were you I would def go and speak to HR they should solve the problem...and tell you your maternity rights...if company will be contribiuting etc...xx

I got threatened with the loss of my promotion course and it made me feel so useless. I can't believe that they can still do this in this day and age! I really need the money this promotion will offer me and they didn't even involve me in the risk assessment. I didn't even know it was a problem! Oddly; it seems to be all men who have the problem with it. Do they not have wives/families of their own? I would be disgusted if my husband behaved in that way/spoke in that way to a pregnant lady. Good luck xx

How big is the company? Can you go direct to the payroll dept?

I had a manager like this, though she didn't muck up my pay to this extent she did someone elses and refused to sort it out. Payroll would only deal with managers so staff member phoned them explaining what had happened and that manager was refusing to deal with it.

It was sorted out very quickly and manager given a major bollocking (from payroll) plus disciplinary from area manager (who payroll reported her to).

OTherwise I would suggest going either to a union or seeing if you can get legal advice (sometimes your home insurance covers you for it) or if there are other bosses above him then go to them.

It's not an acceptable situation so you need to kick up an almighty fuss (not easy when 38 weeks obviously).

Document, document, document. Excel spreadsheet with date, time, location, witnesses, incident. It sounds as if you work for a small company; is that right? DON'T speak over the phone, e-mail or write and CC letters if necessary. Plus speak to HR.

Consider complaint of bullying and harassment?

Good luck, you poor thing, this is exactly what you don'tneed at this point.

Contact ACAS www.acas.org.uk/ for free advice and help re your rights, should also put the fear of God into the stupid man !

Thank you for all your replies. He really is an idiot - and no he is not married and never has been and no kids (pushing 60) so he really doesn't have a clue - likes to think of himself as a playboy!

The problem is that it is a really small company so there is only really him and my other boss that I can speak to about it - plus our accountant who works off site - the other two are sticking up for me but that just makes me feel worse in away because he can make it really difficult for them if he wants to. I just feel so frustrated that even now I have left he is still getting me stressed out. Am going to check out that ACAS website and find out if they can help.

Littlesilver - he is such a bully so could probably get him on that if I had too - plus good idea about documenting it all - hadn't thought of that.

Jazziejeff (fab name by the way) what happened with your course - they surely can't threaten you with no promotion due to being pg - that's awful. Is it sorted out?

I'm sorry. The documenting tip is spot on. My friend taped her boss being a total about flexible working and they've paid up 5 months salary and given her a reference but I wouldn't recommend that as I'm not sure if it's legal to tape someone without their knowledge!

I had confirmed today that I'm not entitled to even statutory maternity pay by v good and expensive employment solicitor (thankfully all covered by a trade union) because of my fixed term contract expiring. The way it was broken to me at work compounded my upset.

So you have my sympathy and I know how hard it is to be arsed to fight at a time when you're so vulnerable. If you can get acas or a solicitor to represent you that'd hopefully make it easier. Good luck.

speak to the accountant?

they legally have to pay you for holiday you acrue during a maternity leave - this is very useful (am going to start a thread on it!)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qvnjc

Hi Josie22; I got through in the end with the promotion course but I really felt like my boss (who is younger than me) was gunning for me to get kicked off. He actually said 'if your kid dies, I don't want that on me'
They were trying to say that I could come back and complete the course after my maternity leave... but the course location is 400 miles away from my actual job. So they were expecting me to leave a 6 month old baby in full time day care for 2 months whilst I finished the qualification
Not even funny. Luckily, it got sorted out but not without a LOT of stress on my part. My company boss tried to twist this and say if I was stressed now, then how would I feel come exam time? No, genius. That is not the same AT ALL. Exam stress and the prospect of losing your job is entirely different.