The 11th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the cable guy

When 83-year-old Betty Jo Thomas missed her family's Christmas dinner in December 2019, they went to her home to check up on her. They found her stabbed to death on her living room floor. Footage from Thomas' Ring doorbell revealed that the last person to enter her home was Roy Holden, a (now former) Charter Spectrum field technician.

Holden had performed a service call in Ms. Thomas' home. The next day Holden returned, allegedly off-duty but in his company-issued and branded van, to again help Thomas. While in her home, Thomas caught Holden stealing credit cards from her purse. In response, Holden brutally stabbed her with his Charter Spectrum utility knife and went on a spending spree with her stolen credit cards.

Holden has since been convicted of the murder and is now serving out a life prison sentence.

Thomas' family sued Charter Spectrum over its responsibility for her murder. After a mere two hours of deliberations, a jury recently returned a $7.3375 billion verdict ($337.5 million in compensatory damages and $7 billion in punitive damages). That's more than half of the company's entire quarterly revenue.

The 10th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the sex offender supervisor

The most disturbing case I ever handled involved a company that hired a registered sex offender as a supervisor, who then raped a female subordinate.

Today’s “Worst Employer” nominee is very much in that tragic and devastating vein.

Vice provides the details, which it confirmed with Claire, he co-workers, court records, and even Starbucks itself.

The 9th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the active shooter

“This is it. I’m done.”

That’s how one elderly employee described to police her recent experience in an active shooter drill conducted by her employer, Catholic Charities of Omaha, that went as planned but also went very, VERY wrong.

The employer hired John Channels to stage the exercise. It did not tell its employees: (1) that the drill was planned or happening; (2) that Channels would be using a real assault rifle loaded with blanks; (3) or that Channels would stage victims (actors covered in fake blood) around the building for added realism. It also failed to inform the local authorities of the drill, who responded as if it was a real and legitimate active shooter situation.

The 8th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … Vince McMahon

Over the years (for now former) WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has been accused of some awful treatment of employees. For starters, wrestling's first ever female referee accused him of rape after she refused to perform fellatio on him. And then there was 1994's criminal trial in which the United States accused McMahon of supplying illegal steroids to wrestlers. (For the record, McMahon was exonerated of both allegations.) These allegations don't include others of mistreatment of wrestlers, such as allegedly allowing for the unsafe working conditions that led to the in-ring death of Owen Hart, or not providing wrestlers health insurance because they are classified as independent contractors and not as employees.

But it's the allegations against Mr. McMahon that The Wall Street Journal brought to light last week that has earned him his nomination as the Worst Employer of 2022.

The 7th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the murder enabler

"It is with a deep sadness and a heavy heart I share one of our students, Riley Whitelaw, passed away over the weekend. Currently, we are unable to share additional information."

That was the introduction from a letter Air Academy HS Principal Dan Olson sent to students last week.

As you can imagine, the "additional information" is heartbreaking.

Riley Whitelaw, age 16, worked at a local Walgreens. According to KKTV 11 News, last year she told store managers that a coworker, Joshua Johnson (age 28), was making advances towards her that made her uncomfortable. On June 11 a manager discovered Ms. Whitelaw dead on the floor of the breakroom with neck injuries and covered in blood. Johnson is currently in custody on first-degree murder charges.

The 6th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the sexual harassment ignorer

All of the following allegedly happened during the mere five weeks that Hannah Navarro worked at a Pratville, Alabama, Chipotle restaurant.

• On Navarro's first day of employment, Nick Baker, the store's general manager, said that she could sit on his lap.
• A few days later Baker told Navarro that she could be his "boo." He then grabbed her arm when she told him that she had a boyfriend and declined.
• Baker (along with other male employees) would pass around pictures of female employees (including Navarro), visit their social media accounts, and make open comments about their bodies at work.

The 5th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the sh**ty superior

I thought I had seen all variety and manner of worst employer. Then Suzanne Lucas sent me this story.

Boss who gave employees energy drink 

mixed with colon cleanser gets sentenced

The 4th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the WTF racist

I can't do these truly awful allegations of systemic racism, racist harassment, and retaliation any more justice than the actual allegations from the lawsuit that the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing just filed against Tesla.

They are the worst allegations of workplace racism I've ever encountered. They start with claims of a segregated workplace with the Black section referred to as the "porch monkey station," the "slaveship," and the "plantation," and go downhill from there to include daily utterances of every kind of racist slur (including the n-word, "porch monkey," and "coon") 50 - 100 times per day.

The 3rd nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the cancerous employment canceler

"Focus on your health," is a nice sentiment for an employer to share with an employee who is awaiting the results of cancer testing. Coupled with a termination letter on the eve of the employee returning to work from said testing? That will earn you a nomination for 2022's Worst Employer.

The EEOC has the details in this news release.

The 2nd nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the claim-filing clinic

Suppose you have a group of unhappy employees. They don't like their working conditions. They don't like their pay. They generally want to work somewhere else. When they give you their notice, do you:

(a) Let them walk. 
(b) Engage them to see what will entice them to say.
(c) Sue them for an injunction to stop them from leaving.

If you chose (c) you are ThedaCare, a Wisconsin healthcare system. You are also the 2nd nominee for the Worst Employer of 2022.

The 1st nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the crashing chief

Another year, another batch of awful employers for your consideration and your year-end voting. Might as well start off big.

Ogden boss allegedly tries to punch worker, rams his truck

The Standard-Examiner has the details.