vote for the worst boss of 2024: the finals

by Alison Green on December 13, 2024

It’s the final round of the Worst Boss of 2024 voting. We’ve narrowed the pool from eight nominees to two (see results from the first round and second round). The two finalists go head-to-head below.

Voting is now closed. The results in this round were:

A Frightful Face-Off – The Nominees:

our boss is a jerk about bereavement leave for miscarriages – 44.36% (4,650 votes)

my mother-in-law manages my sister-in-law and covers up her drunk driving – 55.64% (5,832 votes)

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{ 82 comments }

{ 82 comments… read them below }

    1. nelliebelle1197*

      Yeah, I am not feeling either one. I think the MIL one really isn’t a horrible boss in the sense we are expecting.

      1. But Of Course*

        Other than the minor wrinkle they work together (in, iirc, a cleaning business, an industry where the rules of professionalism are very different than in, for example, an office) that one’s a family problem disguised as a work problem.

        1. JSPA*

          Not really? If it were BFF’s or a romantic relationship or someone afraid of firing someone who is too valuable to the company (or has dirt on the manager)…and if the LW were a random employee…the WORK situation would still be, “manager is enabling report to drive drunk and put coworkers and random people’s lives at risk.”

          That there’s also a whole emotionally-wrenching private situation to navigate doesn’t change that (except it doesn’t leave us searching for the motivation / back-story).

          As to the entrenched, old school, my-way-or-highway head of non profit, they are legion. This isn’t the worst I know of even in the past year, and that’s without getting into those who are engaged in criminal / nefarious goings-on. Feels like picking her would be less about her, and more about how boards need to step up more proactively, when it’s high time for an entrenched central figure to step back.

          (I have not yet voted.)

          2. Milo Spiral*

            the WORK situation would still be, “manager is enabling report to drive drunk and put coworkers and random people’s lives at risk.”

            Risk Management professional here. This was my thought too. This is a huge liability risk for the company (workers comp, wrongful death/personal injury lawsuit, auto insurance premiums going up, etc)

            I haven’t yet voted and I’m pretty torn between the two.

    2. Sarah*

      I agree. IMO neither of these were the worst bosses of the year for a workplace context.

      Feels to me like people were voting based on the emotionally charged nature of the topics rather than actually looking at the workplace actions of the bosses.

      Agree with other posters that the MIL one is a family situation mixed in with the workplace issue, but I guess that’s what gets my voice.

      The miscarriage bereavement leave boss wasn’t even necessarily a bad boss – she asked some detailed questions to get people thinking, and then took the feedback from her directors & it was resolved. It’s not like she was a cartoon villain. Meh.

      1. Throwaway Account*

        Same! But I do think the miscarriage bereavement leave boss harmed more people at work than the other boss.

  3. Juicebox Hero*

    They’re both soooo bad…

    I’m voting for the enabling MIL because in the update to the miscarriage leave, it sounds like a little progress was made in a non-shitty direction. Allowing someone, on probation for DWI yet, to drive impaired is very likely to end up with a life or lives lost.

    1. Caramel & Cheddar*

      I voted for Miscarriage Boss, but I think you’re right about this: Miscarriage Boss is stingy and awful, but ultimately DWI Boss is going to assist in getting someone(s) killed.

      1. Goldenrod*

        I voted for Miscarriage Boss, but it was close!

        I just really hated that Miscarriage Boss was (unexpectedly to me) female, and still had so little empathy. Also that stingy amount of PTO hurts my soul.

        And in the DWI situation, I feel like there is more recourse for resolving it (i.e. calling the probation officer), but with Miscarriage Boss, there’s so little you can do if an executive director is determined to severely limit PTO. And – again – I really hate that.

      2. Palmer*

        Miscarriage boss is a bit more of a ‘worst workplace’ rather than ‘worst boss’. In a decent workplace, miscarriage boss would get fixed when someone eventually went over their head or talked to HR.

        Covering up for DWI is just enabling an eventual manslaughter or massive amount of damage.

    2. Audrey Puffins*

      Yeah, I don’t know that it’s one of the more hand-to-your-mouth darkly-entertaining horrible bosses that we’ve seen on this site over the years, but when there’s a very real risk of a boss’s actions or inactions directly leading to one or more deaths, that kinda trumps “policies that border on the inhumane” or “absolutely bananapants” or “WOW that should be illegal if it isn’t already” or whathaveyou

    3. Na$ty Larry*

      Your comment made the decision for me much easier. SIL’s drunk driving is a current danger to not only everyone at the company but on the road in genreal, while thankfully the LW and her fellow directors were able to be influential to their ED on miscarriage leave.

    4. Academic Hellscape*

      A vote for MIL. Because the other boss is a horrible human, but MIL’s inaction may kill someone else.

  4. Lady Blerd*

    I don’t read AAM as diligently as I used to so I missed a few of the bad bosses this year. Still, I voted for the MIL mainly because while the ED was appaling, according to the update she did listen to her senior colleagues and the policy was changed. So bad MIL boss it is for me.

    1. KTbrd*

      Agreed. I feel like bereavement leave boss is worse, but the damage is “contained” to only employees. MIL is risking the lives of everyone on the road!

  6. Ann O'Nemity*

    I voted for the bereavement leave boss. Stingy leave and completely unsympathetic.

    On the other hand, I don’t like the boss covering for her daughter’s drunk driving either! But the conflict of interest, specifically the impulse to protect your own child, make it much more complicated.

    Overall it was a bit of weak field this year. No outright villains.

    1. Observer*

      The conflict of interest makes it worse. But also, the issue winds up being not just the driving per se, but the fact that she’s showing up to work drunk which means she’s also endangering other staff and clients.

    2. But Of Course*

      Disagree. The boss who is so poor at managing that their employee is working 18 hour days, producing more work than anyone else, functioning as a replacement for the boss, and still being told with no evidence that their work isn’t good enough is a villain. The office that lets an employee stab furniture is run by a villain. The homophobe using “professionalism” as a justification for bigotry is a villain.

      1. Observer*

        I agree. But I think that both of these contenders are villains, too.

        The bereavement leave one is terrible. It’s not just that she is being awful and hypocritical about the issue. It’s that she’s also being flamingly dishonest – her list of “questions” was clearly not posed in good faith, and she tries to get her way through veiled threats. (What else could you call some of the things on that list?)

        And what more can you say about someone who is willing to put everyone, including the staff and clients she has a responsibility to, at risk of serious harm.

    3. Nesta*

      I also voted for the bereavement leave boss. The other is also reprehensible and likely breaking several laws, but at the same time, the fact that the give them 12 days of PTO total and then wants to nitpick this issue puts it over the edge for me.

  7. Pastor Petty Labelle*

    I went with the bearevement leave because that’s really a policy thing that says a lot about the entire company.

    The MIL one is a family problem. I mean SIL could be getting drunk at family events and no one cares.

    2. Serious Silly Putty*

      That how I ended up. Condoning drunk driving is worse than leave policies, but the former feels like a family problem that bled over to work, whereas the latter is an inherently work-related problem.

    3. Mid*

      Barely related, but my current company has an *okay* bereavement leave policy, but they’re updating it in the new year to be so incredibly generous (at least compared to anything I’ve seen.) We’re going from 5 days for direct family and 3 for other people, to *20* days for close relations, and between 5-10 days for other categories, with an explicit rule that close relations don’t have to be biologically or legally family, just anyone you consider a close relative. (So if you were raised by your aunt but not legally adopted or in her care, for example, you could use the 20 days in the event of her passing.)

      And even though I’m between waves of relatives dying (hopefully!), I really appreciate the updated leave policy because it really does seem like they care more about people. We have decent PTO and sick and flex policies already, so making this more generous and more flexible is a really lovely gesture.

  8. hard choice*

    so tough to call this one. could have gone either way but went with the miscarriage one. granted she somewhat redeemed herself but the initial reaction was so bad

  9. Little Sebastian*

    Voting for the MIL. Most companies are historically rubbish about bereavement leave, but the MIL&SIL duo are going to get someone killed because SIL is a fundamentally bad person.

    1. But Of Course*

      People with addictions … are fundamentally bad people? Wow.

      Her actions are terrible. But going from “this person needs help they are not getting and enabling that puts others in danger” to “this person is a terrible person because they have an addiction” is … well, I used to think I was a very judgmental person, but my hat’s off to you! I hope no one you know struggles with addiction. I suppose it really simplifies your Christmas list. “Bobby got addicted to opi*ds thanks to a doctor, he’s a bad person now.”

      1. Peregrine*

        I doubt they’re talking about the addiction itself, but about the drunk driving. I’ve known multiple alcoholics who still made the choice not to drive while drunk.

      2. Ineffable Bastard*

        A person who repeatedly chooses to drive drunk is a terrible person and it does not matter if they have an addiction or not.
        My uncle was an alcoholic and died because of his abuse of alcohol, but he never drove drunk, nor hit anybody, nor stole anything. His sister, who does not drink at all, stole from everybody in the family. He had an addiction, and she is a bad person.

  10. Apex Mountain*

    It sounds like in the update they did actually get miscarriage bereavement leave, so can that boss truly be the worst? How did they even make the finals?

    1. Observer*

      Because the Boss was basically forced into it. Boss is still a terrible boss. And I’d love an update to find out how it went. Because what do you want to bet that she’s going to do her best to make it hard (or effectively impossible) to take that leave, or that she’s going to penalize people for taking that leave.

      Given the veiled threats she made, I would be pretty surprised if neither of those things happened.

    2. Zona the Great*

      Honestly, I’d say even though she had to support the leave, the fact that SHE could even allow something like that to brew in her head and the flow out of her mouth is disturbingly cruel and thoughtless. I’d never respect her again.

    3. Ann O*

      The update also included more details – the boss can’t handle feedback without feeling personally attacked, doesn’t value opposing opinions, and reacts so poorly that the letter writer is too scared to speak up due to fear of being ostracized.

  11. T.N.H*

    Oops, I accidentally voted twice. I should go to AAM h**l where I have to have an all day meeting with the worst bosses from every year!

    1. Anon-ish*

      If you want to be honest about it and not let it affect the outcome, you can vote a third time but for the other candidate, thereby canceling out your overvote.

    1. Caramel & Cheddar*

      I was thinking that when the polls first went up! Which is… good? Bosses are improving, maybe? Probably not.

  13. juliebulie*

    This was a tough choice because they are so different. If I saw someone act that way about a miscarriage I don’t think I could ever get past it. But the drunk driving one is so disturbing, like it’s not bad enough, this is OP’s MIL and SIL. So it can be a problem in the home and marriage as well.

  14. Saturday*

    The sister-in-law is the really bad actor here because she’s probably going to drive drunk no matter what the mother-in-law does, and while the bereavement leave boss sucks, the situation isn’t as jaw-droppingly terrible as many we’ve seen here. If you look at the worst bosses in previous years, wow.

    I declare 2024 to be the year of the not astoundingly horrible bosses.

    1. Margaret Cavendish*

      Yeah, same. They all suck, but they’re all kind of sucky in an ordinary way. No one is forcing their employees to donate organs, making them beg for their jobs, or dating their employee’s father and trying to get the employee to join them in couples counselling. I guess that means things are improving? Maybe 2025 will be a year where the worst bosses are only “mildly irritating!” (Unlikely, but a girl can dream…)

      My personal Worst of the Worst:
      https://www.askamanager.org/2016/04/our-boss-will-fire-us-if-we-dont-sign-up-to-be-a-liver-donor-for-his-brother.html

      https://www.askamanager.org/2019/06/my-boss-makes-me-wear-her-clothes-eat-her-food-and-say-im-grateful-for-my-job.html

      https://www.askamanager.org/2024/09/my-dad-is-dating-my-boss-and-they-want-me-to-go-to-couples-therapy-with-them-2.html

  15. OrdinaryJoe*

    I went with the DUI because it involves the law and innocent people who have no control in the situation are impacted.

    If your company has a policy you don’t like, you can change your circumstance and leave.

    1. Dust Bunny*

      This was my feeling. Is the drunk driving a family problem? Not once it bleeds into a workplace situation.

  16. Apex Mountain*

    Looking at the “You may also like” links… Was there no 2021 Worst boss? Was it because of the great resignation, bosses were forced to be better that year so they were all fantastic?

    1. Serenity*

      That year one boss was accidentally included who had written in about their own question, and it was an error to include them. Allison wants people to feel safe asking questions and not feel like they’ll get roasted, so the contest disappeared. It was a kind and wise choice.

  17. Not Tom, Just Petty*

    This is what I felt. The bereavement boss is a product of a bad company. She thought that the company would support her perspective. Where did she get that idea? The person who shut her down indicates that the company is capable and willing to change, but this is still systemic.
    The mom protecting her daughter is being a terrible person and an incompetent . But in the spirit of this debate, OP knows that MIL is being a terrible person but OP’s employment is not affected. (Just her safety, so here we are.)

    1. Yes And*

      This was my take as well. The MIL is in an awful situation, and made a bad choice. I’m not defending her choice. But worst boss of the year? I just don’t see it.

  18. Mike Engle*

    One boss is uniformly cruel about miscarriages and uniformly stingy about time off. This doesn’t sound like a good boss, but at least it’s even.
    The other boss manages a family member (it’s OP’s MIL and OP’s SIL). This is disqualifying. Over and beyond that, this one unqualified boss (I’m taking a hardline, you must have somebody else manage your family member in the workplace) is protecting a menace to society…AND the workplace if the SIL is drunk on the job.
    I voted for the latter.

  19. Seashell*

    I went with MIL with drunk driving daughter. That’s just an awful mess all the way around.

    The miscarriage bereavement problem seems like it could have been largely solved with more generous PTO/sick leave all around. Stingy leave is a problem that’s unfortunately common, so this boss didn’t seem notably worse than many.

  20. Phony Genius*

    The deciding factor for me is that the bereavement boss is acting contrary to the mission of her organization. It makes the situation that much worse and tips the scales.

    1. Seal*

      Same here. The tone deaf response from the boss is bad enough, but ignoring your organization’s mission because you don’t or won’t trust your staff is especially heinous.

      One of my former employees had several miscarriages well before she worked for me. When she asked to take a few days off to recover, her then-boss (a woman) proceeded to berate and shame her for daring to ask for time off, because “it was just a fetus”. I am still horrified and heartbroken by her story.

  21. Fluffy Fish*

    It’s interesting that its close. For me doing something that can result in the serious injury or death of one or more people was the clear winner.

  22. Thomas*

    The miscarriage one is *horrible*, but the DUI one is outright endangering people’s lives.

    Also impressed at how close semi-final 2 was. 50.02% to 49.98%.

  26. nosferatwo*

    Anyone have experience with jobs that offer a “health and wellness stipend” instead of health insurance? I have an interview with a small company, and it’s unclear to me whether they offer insurance, or just the stipend. Obviously I’ll ask them for more details if they want to move forward with me, but it makes me hesitant.

    I’m in a relationship but not married and am over the age of 26, so I’d need to find a plan on my own. It sounds rather difficult and confusing, and I’m doubtful that I’d come out on top. The job looks very aligned with my experience though, and it’s almost fully remote.

  29. just2cents*

    Serious question: why would a someone having a miscarriage (*not* a stillbirth, which only happens at 24+w) get bereavement leave? It’s a medical event. You don’t get bereavement leave for a mastectomy which is arguably more traumatic than losing an six-week fetus. It really felt to me like the employee who asked the question was the problem in that scenario, afaik it’s basically unheard for any employer to have internal policies that are specific to miscarriages, which happen in a third of all pregnancies and thus should be something people choosing to get pregnant need to logistically- and emotionally prepare for. I worked somewhere where three women had miscarriages in a year, including one at 19w, and none of them got bereavement leave or other special treatment that someone going through a comparable medical situation would not also receive. A miscarriage is a medical event and it’s very normal to be sad about a medical event but bereavement leave for an unviable fetus is extremely over-the-top/borderline hysterical.

    Before someone comes for me, this is a sincere question, I am a progressive cis woman who used to work in healthcare, and I’ve known many, many people who’ve had both miscarriages and actual stillbirths, including close relatives. Obviously someone who lets anyone drive drunk is a million times worse than someone defending a very reasonable and also extremely typical company policy.

    1. doreen*

      I believe it’s a sincere question so I will answer you. I am someone who had a miscarriage and a stillbirth ( which is after 20 weeks of pregnancy, not 24 ) both as a result of the same twin pregnancy. Yes, they were different and I might not have taken leave as a result of the miscarriage in other circumstances but you can’t put really firm lines on these things. I really doubt that there would have been much difference to me physically or emotionally if my loss had occurred at 19 weeks – it still would have involved a labor and delivery. I don’t think my cousin’s stillbirth on her due date felt any different to her than if the baby had lived for a couple of hours.

      Now as to why people want bereavement leave rather than medical leave, I suspect that depends on their employer’s policy and details. The employer I had at the time (in 1988) offered five days for bereavement and I had already used up all my sick leave from the complications. My subsequent employer did not offer any special bereavement leave at all – but did allow 15 days of sick leave to be used each year for bereavement , so people there took sick leave for all losses, whether it was a miscarriage, stillbirth or a 70 year old parent.

    2. Box of Kittens*

      I think this is the wrong question, and kind of the same question the manager was asking. It’s less about why someone having a miscarriage gets bereavement leave and more about letting people decide on their own when they need bereavement leave. You’re defining miscarriage in a clinical sense, and of course that’s not wrong because it is a medical event, but for many people this is a lot more emotional than a medical event (even though medical events can obviously be emotional in their own way, as you pointed out).

      The point is that it’s not up to the employer to define it with this much rigidity, or to tell their employees how they should feel about something, which is how your question is coming across. I’m trying to take you at face value, but your use of the word “hysterical” really implies that your main issue with this is about how people should react to a miscarriage, and that’s really not up to you to decide.

    3. Ann O*

      Bereavement leave is generally intended to provide time for individuals to mourn the death of a loved one, process their emotions, and manage practical matters. Miscarriage involves many of the same challenges.

    4. Ineffable Bastard*

      As a woman in healthcare you certainly is aware of the historical implications of use “hysterical” and, still, you chose to. And it came across very callous.

      People know what they need to grieve. Why should you or a manager decide how a miscarriage affected them? A mastectomy can be or not be traumatic, and a miscarriage can be or not be traumatic as well — things vary a lot depending on each person and their circumstances. People in my family grieved miscarriages but not mastectomies and hysterectomies due to cancer. For other people it could be the opposite.

      People should be allowed time to process both events if they need.

  30. CV*

    I was definitely on the fence, but drunk driving has a civic-structure way to follow up (police) so is slightly more amenable to correction.

  31. Magdalena*

    The miscarriage one INFURIATED me. The gall of saying, what even IS miscarriage, and what if people abuse the system.
    Seriously, just $&$@$!

  32. Middle Name Jane*

    As bad as they all are, I have voted for the DUI cover-up in each round because drunk drivers can kill people, and I can’t get past someone enabling that.

    1. Disappointed Australien*

      Same here.

      But I still get “Not authorised. You are forbidden from accessing this page.” when I try to vote.

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