Employee was fired for refusing to work overtime, sparking debate on social media

An employee’s recent report of being fired after setting boundaries at work has sparked a heated debate on Reddit’s popular anti-work subreddit. The post quickly gained traction, highlighting concerns about toxic work environments and raising questions about the broader challenges facing workers in today’s labor market.

The employee shared anonymously that his refusal to work an additional 20 hours resulted in his dismissal from a mid-sized advertising company.

In the sub-Reddit post, the employee said that his boss tried to assign him an additional project that would have cost him more time. When the person expressed concerns about fitting this into the existing schedule, the boss compared the person’s workload to that of the other employee who worked until 2 a.m. and implied that the person could do the same.

The employee said, “I told him I don’t want to be like that worker because she holds meetings until 2 a.m. (she also probably makes three times my salary).”

Days after that meeting, the employee received a call from HR, a clear sign of the person’s impending termination.

He said in the post: “After disagreeing a few days later, he called me and when I saw the person from HR I knew it was over. It felt particularly greedy because the team I led had record sales this year, and by far that was due to changes I made.

After reflecting on the experience, the employee continued: “To be honest, I don’t really feel upset.

“My previous job was at a large tech company for six years, and the layoffs were massive and not performance-based (I exceeded my expectations on the way to promotion, while the person they left behind was almost fired on the grounds that) the person added.

“How did the job market go for you? It still seems a bit difficult, but I have saved enough to survive for a while. Insurance is the main concern as I was the sole income earner for my family,” he further said.

“What kind of jobs did you have before retail?” one user asked.

The person replied, “I was trying to work my way through college. I didn’t work until I was 30; I was disabled and considered incurable until I was 25 years old. My dreams of becoming an accountant are almost over. I just hope.” I have to find something to live off of. The problem is that I’m not cut out for physical labor and my post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues are overwhelming right now.

Many social media users expressed their opinions in the comments section.

One social media user commented: “The tech job landscape is pretty bad but seems to be improving slightly. Bad time to be fired, but I’m glad you stood your ground.”

“Yes, after the one and only time I was fired for a crappy reason, I took a union job,” another wrote.