If my boss said “I was ready to club you”, what can I do legally?
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If my boss said “I was ready to club you”, what can I do legally?
I am a receptionist and in 1 day I got written up for 2 different things. After, I was taken into the general manager’s office with the HR manager where we listened to recordings of me answering the phones. At one point the general manager heard something he didn’t like, stopped the recording and said “I was ready to club you at that moment”. The HR manager did nothing about what he said. I got out of the meeting and immediately called his manager. We had a meeting the next day and she did nothing about it either; she took his side. Is there anything that I can do legally?
Asked on August 27, 2010 under Personal Injury, Alaska
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
You could report the boss to the police, for making a threat against you; depending the exact circumstances, they may or not do anything, but at least it will be on record.
You do not have recourse to a lawsuit; you haven't suffered any actual loss or injury, so there'd be nothing to sue over. Lawsuits compensate people for injury; a single threat, by itself, would almost certainly not justify monetary compensation in a context like this.
If the threat, or the lack of action of management and HR, grew out of your membership in a protected category (e.g. it's because of your race, sex, religion, disability, age over 40), then you might have a claim against the company. Otherwise, you probably don't--there's no actual requirement that employers be fair to their employees.
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