TL, DR is at the bottom.
This is a long one, so buckle up! I worked for the same job for almost four years. During that time, I moved up to become supervisor of my section. I was on good terms with the director of the program, as well as the owner of the business. I helped them out of a lot tough situations, and up until the day I quit, the owner (we will call him Dr. Kong) would sing my praises. About five months before I quit, a new employee started at my workplace. We will call her Abby. Abby seemed nice enough at first, a little rough around the edges but nothing alarming. As the first month moved into the second, that started to change. I was Abby’s supervisor, and I noticed that she would often undermine other employees in our section, including me. She would make strange comments that couldn’t quite be called a lie, but would imply other people couldn’t do their job, or did not do as good a job as her (she had no experience in this exact field when she started, btw). Even more concerning, Abby would do things that went against very important safety regulations. I brought this up with her, and when she did not stop, I brought it up with the director as well. The behavior continued, and her hostility towards me grew to the extent that I did not feel I could adequately perform my job or be her supervisor. I transferred to another section and tried to stay away from her as much as possible, being polite and distant whenever I had to interact with her.
Another new employee started, and on her second day of work, Abby was extremely rude to her and made her cry. The new hire was afraid to tell management, so I did. Later that day, Abby came into my room, cornered me, cussed at me, and threatened me. After she left, I felt so shaken I had to sit down. Less than five minutes later, she came back into the room and forced a cup of…something… into my hands. She was all smiles, and I felt like I was dealing with a totally different person. She said she and our cook were coming up with a new drink, and she wanted me to try it and see what I thought. I looked into her crazy eyes, and was terrified to try the drink, and terrified not to. Eventually I took the tiniest sip I could, said it was nice, and handed it back to her. The new employee who she had made cry the previous day witnessed this exchange and told me after Abby left that she would never have drunk something given to her in that situation. Ever. My shift ended less than twenty minutes later and I went home, completely distraught. I texted the director and ended up having a phone conversation with her. I told her Abby’s actions and said I did not want to come back to work. By the end of the night, after talking to both the director and the owner, they decided they would be firing Abby the next morning. I made it clear that I was not comfortable being in the same room with her, and was assured by Dr. Kong that I would not be put in that situation.
Next morning, Dr. Kong calls Abby into his office, and during that time, she manages to convince him that it was all a big misunderstanding, and she had definitely not threatened me. Dr. Kong then calls me into the office to sit next to her, going back on his word. Abby denies again that she did anything wrong, then changes tactics and says “oh, I actually did cuss, but I was upset, and it was quiet enough that no one else could hear me.” She laughed in my face about the drink, scoffing at me and implying I was mental to think her “being nice” was somehow a threat. I could tell Dr. Kong was drinking in every word of this, and when he started his speech on our workplace being a melting pot, and how both Abby and myself bring refreshing new views to the team, I knew he was not going to fire her. At this point I felt terrified, Abby having gotten away with something this bad, and now knowing how close she had come to being fired, would fuel for her hatred for me. I stood up in the middle of Dr. Kong’s speech, announced “I resign,” and left. Left behind a lot of my belongings, just grabbing my purse and my coat. I walked out and of course started bawling.
While looking for a new job, I applied for unemployment. Dr. Kong was not happy and denied it. I appealed and won. He appealed again, saying there was no reason for me to leave, and lost terribly. The hearing officer was not impressed by him at all and determined that being verbally abused and threatened was indeed a good enough reason to leave employment. Oh, did I mention Abby got fired two days later after doing the same thing to someone else? Apparently, they could risk three employees leaving the company.
I wish this was the end of it, but since then Dr. Kong has come after me in a number of ways. He paid out my final paycheck at minimum wage, and when I sent a demand for payment of wages, he sent me nasty texts, and a certified package I had to pick up from the post office. I thought it was my employee file. It was not. It was the personalized tea box I had given him a while back, along with a nasty letter telling me how selfish and ungrateful I am, and that because of me he never wants to help another employee again. Yeah. So, I escalated it to the state. They are still investigating, but if they find him in the wrong, he will owe me a lot more than the difference in my paycheck, as well as having to pay fines to the state, and being on the public record for wage theft. I will update once a decision has been reached.
TL,DR: Worked at a company for four years, nasty employee threatened me, I quit, boss denied my unemployment. I appealed and won, he appealed and lost. He also paid me out at minimum wage on my last paycheck, and I am now in the process of getting that money from him, with the state involved. He could be in big trouble for withholding my wages.