There was an issue at a large airport on the eastern seaboard a few years ago. The airport had recently been privatized and large scale redundancies offered in operations, works and maintenance. The teams that remained in operations and works were under the management of a particularly nasty, petty and vindictive bully. I worked there for a few months when I first left the ADF but quickly decided it wasn't for me and went back to flying.
The manager displayed more than a few of the character traits listed on the previous page. I found him very dismissive of other peoples ideas or concerns, but explosive when anyone questioned his ideas. He also seemed to think that the rules didn't apply to him. One particular supervisor, a particularly smart young woman, questioned him on a few issues and advised him that he must comply with the rules. He exploded. He threw things at her, his face turned red and he was spitting as he shouted. She, being a very smart woman, called the police! He was not arrested, but the incident was now on the public record. As more incidents occurred they were reported to HR, and with the police record as proof of past behavior they were forced to take notice or face both a criminal prosecution of their manager and a civil class action from their staff.
Eventually (probably after about two years) the supervisors and staff advised HR that they no longer had confidence in the manager, and refused to take direction from him. This collective action worked and the manager was sacked. Unfortunately the events took their toll; several people resigned due stress and the young woman was diagnosed with terminal cancer shortly afterwards (which may have been related to stress).
Last edited by Trojan1981; 12th July 2012 at 00:43.