Verbal abuse has no place in any workplace, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen—and it happens a lot.

I’ve never understood how anyone with a half a brain could think that boorish, abusive language and behavior would motivate people or get them to work harder, but unfortunately, it is all too common in today’s workplace. Some companies have even institutionalized it as a workforce strategy, an approach that makes me wonder how an organization like that stays in business.

Verbal abuse, however, isn’t limited to the private sector. There was a great example from the California State Senate last week, and it involved a soon-to-be-gone legislator by the name of Carole Migden, a Democrat from San Francisco. Migden has the distinction of being the first sitting California legislator to be voted out of the state Legislature in 12 years.

That’s something that is really hard to do in California’s grossly gerrymandered legislative districts—and her term is winding down. She’ll be gone in November.

Migden has had a number of problems, “including a $350,000 fine from state political ethics regulators and probation for reckless driving,” according to the Los Angeles Times. She’s probably a little testy, given all her troubles. So how does she deal with it? By some reports, she verbally abuses her legislative staff.

In fact, last week Migden was so abusive to the people working for her that the director of personnel for the California state Senate had to send her staff home for the rest of the week. You read that right—the state of California dealt with an abusive boss by sending her staff home.

According to a story in the Sacramento Bee, “Enedina Hidalgo, the director of personnel for the state Senate, was in the hallway when she heard Migden screaming at the staff, according to a witness to the event. The source said Hidalgo later entered the office while the senator was not present on Thursday, informing the staff of their rights. Soon after, Hidalgo returned to Migden’s office with Tony Beard Jr., the chief sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. They told staff members to pack up their belongings and then helped them out of the building, the witness said.”

The newspaper also notes that, “It was the latest transgression for Migden, whose decade in the Capitol has been marked by controversy, volatile behavior and high staff turnover amid complaints that she is unreasonably demanding and verbally abusive.”

Migden denies that her staff was sent home, just as she has previously denied that her behavior is problematic. As the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert blog noted, “Migden admitted during the primary that her curt demeanor sometimes rubbed associates the wrong way. But she was unapologetic. ‘I make no apologies that sometimes it’s a tough arena,’ she said at the time.”

Politics and government is a tough arena, but tough or not, verbal abuse has no place in any workplace, whether it be public, private or anything else. Fortunately, voters in San Francisco have already dealt with Migden’s behavior, but my experience is that people who are such out-and-out jerks rarely change their ways, even when confronted with their over-the-top behavior.

My guess is that Migden will land on her feet after she leaves office. She’ll get some plum political appointment to a state commission or board that pays a big salary for very little work. And, unfortunately, she’ll probably continue to verbally abuse those who work for her. Good people will be forced to deal with her bad behavior. Like any kind of abuse, the pattern will continue until the abuser is ultimately forced to own up to her actions.