Is there anything worse than getting laid off or being forced to take a job buyout? If you said no to that question, well, try this one on for size: How about taking a buyout or layoff with severance, only to then have your former company file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection?

This not only means that you are without your job, but that the severance pay you were counting on to tide you over has now become part of the bankruptcy proceedings. And that means you are now a creditor, someone who has to stand in line to get paid by your former employer—if you ever get paid at all.

That’s the cheery holiday message coming this week from Tribune Co. and its foul-mouthed, no-people-skills chairman, Sam Zell. I’ve written a lot about Zell this year, from his seeming desire to purposely work to demoralize his workforce to his ability to foster a culture that seems to delight in canning employees. But his decision to have Tribune file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection seems to set a new low when it comes to employee-management relations. 

For one thing, it means that former Tribune employees who were bought out, laid off and are getting a severance package are now “creditors” and won’t be getting paid until the bankruptcy court says they can get paid. This includes freelance writers, according to the publisher of Zell’s Los Angeles Times, who also said that the bankruptcy could go on for anywhere from six months to a year.

Now, I’m sure that Sam Zell didn’t spend a lot of time focusing on what a bankruptcy filing might mean for his workforce, but that’s the point. He doesn’t spend much time thinking about his workforce at all. No, instead of treating employees like a valuable resource, Zell seems to take great glee in saying outrageous things and swearing at people, and there is so little confidence in him from his workforce that employees are all too willing to use legal remedies to try to stop what he is doing to their company.

Zell is a leading candidate for my annual Stupidus Maximus Award, given each spring “to the most ignorant, shortsighted and dumb workforce management practice of the year.” I thought last year’s “winner”—Circuit City’s (now former) CEO Philip Schoonover—would be hard to top, but Sam Zell seems to set the bar a little higher every time he opens his mouth.

It’s clear to me that he has turned into a formidable Stupidus Maximus candidate—very tough to beat.

Got a better candidate for this singular “honor”? Or, do you think that Sam Zell is a lock for Stupidus Maximus glory? Please let me know what you think, either with a comment here or via e-mail sent to me directly at jhollon@workforce.com. All nominations will be held in strict confidence.