The emails were “hostile and constant”. Jane Allen, a sales representative for a medical company in the US, would spend half a day responding to her boss, defending herself from cruel smears. It got to the point that she would dread checking her inbox for fear of the latest humiliation. “I would see an email come in [on my phone] and I’d become physically sick.”
With children and a mortgage to pay, Ms Allen, who does not want to use her real name, felt unable to quit her job. So she stuck it out until she could find a new position.
“I felt like I was in a battlefield. Always on the defence and the bullets were fired at me.” Ultimately, it affected her ability to sleep, hit her confidence hard and led to depression.