Thomas Schiermeyer was already a recruit for the Seaside Park, New Jersey, Police Department, when he applied to the police academy for a promotion to an entry-level Officer. 
The application process he alleges in his lawsuit is one that I’ve certainly never seen before, and one to which no employee ever should be subjected.
As Schiermeyer was filling out his application, Detective-Sergeant Matthew Brady, who was on duty at the time, came up behind Schiermeyer. He pulled out his firearm and pressed the barrel to Schiermeyer’s left temple.
He then said, “spell one more mother f**king word wrong.” Brady then slowly removed the gun from Schiermeyer’s temple, re-holstered it, and said that it was unloaded. According to Schiermeyer’s lawsuit, however, an on-duty officer’s gun is required to always be loaded, and he certainly thought that it was.
Schiermeyer initially kept quiet about the incident, fearing that he would not get into the academy as retaliation if he complained. He eventually complained about the gun incident after being subjected to subsequent abusive misconduct, and alleges that his employer “ghosted” him — that is, removed him from the on-duty schedule instead of firing him.
He sued for violations of his civil rights, retaliation and assault and battery.
While this lawsuit was just filed, and a complaint is merely one party’s version of events, if you point a loaded gun at the head of job applicant, you might be the worst employer of 2018.
The 2nd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Arresting School Board
The 3rd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Camera Creep
The 4th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 is … the (in)Humane Society Harasser
The 5th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 is … the Political Pension Preventer
Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.