• I know how jobs work, including to the point of requiring an employee to sit out their hours staring at a wall with nothing to do.

    What I also know, is that whatever contract you signed, along with any labor laws, is the rule. If you get asked anything outside of your contract (think thrice before signing one), or against the union agreement, or in contradiction with labor laws, your boss can go pound sand.

    being an asshole is not illegal

    Depending on where you live, and how much of an asshole, it can be deemed illegal workplace abuse.

    There are also other means: right now in Spain, we have a case where the chief of the maternity ER of a hospital got dismissed for abusive behavior… he sued and won, getting readmitted… which subsequently made every worker in the ER take a sick leave, grinding the ER to a halt. Just today, news came out that he’s been fired. So much for legally being an asshole.