not like me and has written me up once and has called another meeting with me next week and from what I can tell his agenda is to write me up again. I have goals that I am responsible for and have exceeded each of those over 100% and yet he still finds reasons to pick on me. He has told me that if I do not listen to him and do what he tells me he will fire me. What rights to I have to protect myself from him
Even after that many years of employment, you might not have any rights to continued employment or any other way to protect yourself from this boss.
If you haven't got a written employment agreement, or a labor union to protect you, or something in writing that would let you argue that you've got a de facto contract that the employer needs "good cause" to fire you, than you're still an "at will" employee that can be fired at any time without notice for any reason.
Likewise, without a written agreement that says otherwise, your employer can transfer you, demote you, reduce your hours, your salary, your benefits, and generally make any changes they want to your employment. They can also be rude to you and order you around, which may be obnoxious and exploitive, but it's not illegal. Your corresponding rights are to quit whenever you want, without notice, for any reason.
What youe employer can't do: They can't illegally discriminate against you because of your sex, race, age, religion, ancestry, or disability, but just not liking you because of a personality conflict is perfectly legal. You also can't be forbidden to do something the law says you're allowed to do, like union organize, and you can't be ordered to break the law or ordered to do anything that's contrary to public policy, and they can't retaliate against you for reporting something like that.
I agree with Ms. Koslyn. From what you have stated, it doesn't sound like your boss/employer has done anything illegal. Your situation sounds a lot like that of a relative of mine (who worked for the Boy Scouts, of all places). Unfortunately, employers can be jerks and employees usually have no recourse. If your employer is trying to push you out of the company because they don't want to pay you any more based on you exceeding your goals, you won't have a cause of action. They would have to disciminate based on one of the protected classes Ms. Koslyn pointed out.
Without an employment contract that lasts for a specified term and protects you from being fired, you would be an at-will employee and could be fired at any time for any non-discriminatory reason.
