Hi there,
TL;DR: My boss is sexually harassing all young female employees in our office. I want to quit, but I'm afraid he'll screw me over because there was a precedent.
My situation is fairly common, and I think many bosses, especially in rural companies, feel empowered enough to hit on young employees and get away with it because they're buddy-buddy with HRs.
Of course, I can file for sexual harassment, but I'm painfully aware that I'll lose my job that very same day, and I don't have enough savings to last until I get a new one. He'll lawyer up in an instant, and it'll be a total loss for me.
I found and applied for a new job a week ago, and they invited me for an interview next week. I'm excited about this opportunity because they seem to be decent people, professional and my qualifications are exactly what they're looking for. I've already passed the first stage of the interview, and I'm preparing for the second one.
However, I'm a bit scared to quit my current job because I think that my boss will do something to prevent me from getting the new one. It already happened to one of my colleagues. She quit on the spot by yelling in his face calling him disgusting and telling him to keep his hands to himself. He went ahead and made her look like the worst employee ever to her potential employer when they called following a reference – and he's done it right in the middle of the office so everyone could hear him saying that. Everybody knew what he was doing, and yet everyone kept silent… yeah, I hate my job.
I've read a couple of recommendations on how to quit your job peacefully, preserving self-respect, but I'm afraid it'll be a shitshow because of him. I'm positive that he'll jump on a chance to screw me over if the opportunity presents itself – just like he did with my colleague.
So I wonder if you guys can recommend a course of action that will allow me to prevent him from meddling in my business and ruining my chances at the new job I found.
Thanks in advance for any advice you could offer.