Dear J.T. & Dale: My current position is micromanaged, and I work from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. In a meeting today, our boss stated we should have no time off, and should work more and harder. Is that legal? With a stressful and negative environment, is it really wrong to quit and hunt for a job, explaining to prospective employers why you resigned? — Georgia

J.T.: While your workplace may not break any laws, it certainly isn’t right. Some people thrive on that kind of intense pressure from management; others do not. Chalk it up as a great learning experience in terms of what you don’t want in your next job.

Dale: But, how to get to that next job? Should you quit and search full-time? In your situation, Georgia, where you have almost no freedom, it could be a wise strategy — IF you have the financial wherewithal to conduct a proper job search without working. As we saw in a case we recently reported (available at JTandDale.com), even an ideal job search took four months. If leaving your job will mean a short, frantic search, you’re likely to end up in another negative environment — remember, the easiest jobs to find are the lousy ones.

J.T.: If you can’t do a thorough and probably lengthy search without working, then you’ll have to do it on the side, but here’s the good news: When you know you are leaving, the job becomes less frustrating. If you try, you can even turn the negative energy of the workplace into the positive energy of planning your escape.

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Jeanine “J.T.” Tanner O’Donnell is a professional development specialist and founder of CAREEREALISM.com. Dale Dauten’s latest book is “(Great) Employees Only: How Gifted Bosses Hire and De-Hire Their Way to Success” (John Wiley & Sons). Please visit them at www.jtanddale.com, where you can send questions via e-mail, or write to them in care of King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019.

© 2009 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.