I wake up every day and give thanks that I’m my own boss. I’m not really cut out to “work for” the glowing icons of The Peter Principle. (Someday I’ll write a story about when one said “You’re no D***ie Sl***y,” referring to a consultant in another region, to one of my top-performing colleagues when she was talking to him about billing and selling the most work in an entire consulting region. Brutal and Stupid. Not a great combo.)

The final voting for My Bad Boss runs from August 14-21. Here’s the story that’s in the lead:

Cancer Can’t Stop This Boss
My story starts with me being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. I am in my early thirties and have not worked since March of this year. I also have three young children under the age of 8, and a wife who cannot work due to my condition. I think you get the idea.

In the industry I work in, disability benefits are available but only equal about one-half of what I normally would be making. These benefits are formulated from a day to day basis for days you have received no other compensation for. Needless to say, every day claimed is extremely important in the basic task of feeding my family and keeping the lights on.

I have been an employee for about 10 years and as such, I have built up some paid time off. I sent paperwork in to take some of my time off, to help pay the bills, but when the paycheck came, I was short on several days. This was compounded when I did not claim disability benefits on the days I thought I was being paid for. As an end result, I lost out on my vacation days AND DISABILITY BENEFITS. Talk about getting hit where it hurts.

My boss threw away the paperwork I sent in and then lied about ever receiving it knowing that filing a grievance for the time I should have received would take months if not years to resolve. Its hard enough just trying to stay alive, let alone trying to pull knifes out of not only my back, but the backs of my wife and children too.

Got anything to top that? And if you do, I will personally go and ninja kick your boss in the neck for you.

NB to HR: Make this right. There are the rules, and there’s what’s right. And if you don’t do anything else this year, GET YOUR PEOPLE TO SIGN UP FOR DISABILITY INSURANCE. Enough with the ridiculous training classes and quarterly meetings. Do something that matters. Get people to sign up for LTD. What are you waiting for? (To make this easy, within a week I’ll post a communication kit that you can use. Free.)