“I worked as a social worker in Adult Services within the In-Home Supportive Services Program at a city human services department. The bullying began almost immediately after I started and quickly escalated. My supervisor’s behavior was humiliating and demeaning — she once referred to me as having an “inadequate personality.” She targeted others in the unit as well, but selectively. Her pattern of psychological abuse was tolerated and unchecked by leadership.
Her pattern of psychological abuse was tolerated and unchecked by leadership.
One day, she told a coworker outright that she chose to target me because I didn’t fight back. My request for a transfer was denied, and even when I raised concerns with senior supervisors and administrators, I was told we should “work it out ourselves.” The only exception was one agency head who acknowledged that leadership should have intervened.
I endured 3.5 years under her supervision, giving up nearly a year of my life to the emotional strain. The union offered no support, and coworkers offered little. Eventually, the situation resolved — not for effort on my part but because she crossed the wrong person. After bullying another social worker, that employee and their entire unit filed a grievance. The supervisor took a week off to avoid the hearing and resigned upon returning. This time, her bystander bosses didn’t step in to protect her.”