"I'd advise people who experience toxic workplaces or think that they are in them to consider whether they themselves are lacking in the ability to assert their

"I'd advise people who experience toxic workplaces or think that they are in them to consider whether they themselves are lacking in the ability to assert their own boundaries and act on those assertions when they are broken repeatedly." This is terrible advice. It's not a matter of 'character' that people cannot act, it's a matter of power. The entire situation is due to a messed up power dynamic. If the staffer was not deathly afraid they may have been able to do all sorts of things otherwise not possible.