1 week Ago By Kirstin Ferguson
Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, Got a Minute? This week: watching a toxic boss flourish, redundancies in small business and questioning medical certificates. It’s difficult watching a former manager you know to be problematic thriving, but sometimes you need to let it go. Credit: Dionne Gain Twenty years ago, I worked in a successful creative company where a new manager initially seemed inspiring but later became toxic.
He befriended me, confided in me, and then turned against me – spreading false accusations that led to my redundancy. I later learned he left the company under bad circumstances. Despite his behaviour, he has since thrived in senior roles.
Meanwhile, I still feel the sting of the injustice, especially because I didn’t defend myself at the time. How do people like him keep advancing in their careers, and how could I have handled the situation better? Toxic people like your former manager thrive wherever they can excel at manipulation, networking, and self-promotion — they are masters at winning over the right people while deflecting blame onto others. They target those who might be competent but less likely to fight back.
Too many workplaces reward what is achieved over how those results are achieved, allowing people like your former manager to thrive. Looking back, you were placed in an impossible situation, and it’s understandable that you didn’t know how to react. The best approach would have been to document everything, quietly build alliances with trusted colleagues, and share your side of the story with a senior leader you trusted before the manager’s false accusations gained traction.
Loading Given this happened 20 years ago, my advice is to let it go now. His success does not erase the kind of person he is. Your career has managed to progress without compromising your integrity which is unlikely to be anything he can claim.
I have worked for more than 15 years for one company. At one stage, we were part of a multinational company, employing more than 400 people around the world. The Australian arm of the business was then sold, and we became a small business of less than 15 employees.
Less than a month after the change of ownership, I was paid out my notice period but did not receive a redundancy because we were now a small business. Should I have been entitled to the 12-week redundancy payment I was due under Fair Work rules? Loading It all comes down to timing. If your redundancy was processed after the buyout and the company had fewer than 15 employees at that time, then small businesses are generally exempt from paying redundancy under the Fair Work Act 2009.
However, if your termination was planned before the company became a small business, you may still be entitled to one. That may be difficult to prove, and it does seem like the new owner decided to make the changes after he had full control..
