Who gets the prize for "meanest boss"?

The top award MUST go to the owner of the QC Mart, a chain based in Bettendorf, Iowa. In a blinding flash of tactlessness and bad taste, 57-year-old Willliam Ernst, takes top honors in the category. Here's the letter he sent his employees in March of this year:

New Contest – Guess The Next Cashier Who Will Be Fired!!! 

To win our game, write on a piece of paper the name of the next cashier you believe will be fired. Write their name [the person who will be fired], today’s date, today’s time, and your name. Seal it in an envelope and give it to the manager to put in my envelope.

Here’s how the game will work: We are doubling our secret-shopper efforts, and your store will be visited during the day and at night several times a week. Secret shoppers will be looking for cashiers wearing a hat, talking on a cell phone, not wearing a QC Mart shirt, having someone hanging around/behind the counter, and/or a personal car parked by the pumps after 7 p.m., among other things.

If the name in your envelope has the right answer, you will win $10 CASH. Only one winner per firing unless there are multiple right answers with the exact same name, date, and time. Once we fire the person, we will open all the envelopes, award the prize, and start the contest again.

And no fair picking Mike Miller from (the Rockingham Road store). He was fired at around 11:30 a.m. today for wearing a hat and talking on his cell phone.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!! 

This was the last straw for several employees, who quit on the spot after learning of the contest. One of them - Misty Shelky - applied for unemployment benefits, citing a hostile work environment as the basis of her claim. Mr. Ernst challenged, saying that the workers who left did so voluntarily. Administrative Law Judge Susan D. Ackerman decided in favor of Ms. Shelky, describing Ernst's actions deplorable.

Judge Ackerman concluded“The employer’s actions have clearly created a hostile work environment by suggesting its employees turn on each other for a minimal monetary prize. This was an intolerable and detrimental work environment.”

Ya think?

Read about it in the Des Moines Register, which first reported the story, or in this MSNBC article.