I am in Indiana and I am confused about getting unemployment if I quit.

by Annette
(Indiana)

I work for three partners at a CPA firm (there are also nine other employees). One partner is a bully and has picked on me for quite some time. Two weeks ago he exploded on me and the entire office heard it. I actually have a letter from another partner explaining the situation to our third partner saying that it was the most unprofessional thing he had seen in 44 years and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Ever since that day, I feel almost sick to my stomach at work because I am horrified about "when" the next explosion will come.

What happens if I quit my job here?


Hi Annette,

I'm am so sorry to hear about your situation. Workplace Bullying seems to be epidemic.

As far as unemployment goes .. they will first need to be certain that your situation is actually severe enough to establish that "a reasonable person, in a similar situation would quit too. This is a standard question used in law to "determine" from an objective viewpoint.

For unemployment sake, I tell people before quitting you must make efforts to correct or "preserve" the employment and then I might add something like "except under exceptional circumstances.

The reason I don't go into the exceptional circumstances much is because a person still needs to be able to show or prove that an event rose to a level that justifies quitting immediately and I feel a person should immediately contact an attorney for such things.

So, you have a letter from another partner who was so personally affronted by this episode that you actually have a copy of that letter.

I think that is powerful stuff, but because I do have only your best interests at heart, I still feel compelled to ask what the employer has done since the verbal ATTACK to rectify your situation.

One more thing Annette, I think if you answer "nothing". You should file an EEOC Complaint.