Some companies will do everything to save money and not pay their employees fairly.

But if you have proof and details of malicious company procedures, and you know that you are terminated unjustly, it’s only fair to do what’s right.

Just like our story here, find out how this woman made her employer pay for unfair treatment.

Boss pays a lot for his fancy plans

This story happened around 15 years ago, and English is my second language.

I had just quit my BA in Economics (it just wasn’t right for me), and quickly needed a job while figuring out what to do while paying my bills.

I found one in a call center. This center was a subcontractor for big companies.

In my case, it was the second biggest telco company in the country, and they partially outsourced 1st and 2nd level support for DTV, internet, and phone services to the company I worked for.

Initially, she liked her job.

The job was ok, not very demanding, hilarious interactions with customers, and nice co-workers.

But I soon discovered that management was just a bunch of inflated egos with glorious ideas but no talent.

So after about a year, I was promoted to supervisor (just a flashy title for solving the crappy cases, no pay raise or other benefits).

She was appointed to lead a training team.

Apparently, I did a good job because, 3 month later, I got called into the office by the management team.

Their plan was to form a training team, and they wanted me to lead it.

At that point, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my career, so I just said yes. And that’s when the ****show started.

The contract was vague, though the benefits looked good.

They gave me a contract with no detailed job description, a fixed salary, plus a monthly bonus which I can get by achieving certain milestones every month.

When I asked what those milestones are, they just said they will define them every month.

Ok, fine by me.

As an employee with fixed salary, I also had to report my hours every month to my assigned manager. Let’s call him Frederick.

She wanted more details about her position, but she’s only getting nonsense instructions.

So here we go. As I said before, they had LOTS of fancy ideas, but no clue.

I asked countless times what their plan was with that training department, what my tasks were, what my milestones are, and I only got some wishy washy speech about some grand ideas.

In the end, I was tasked with all sort of nonsense—helping out with calls (best paid call center agent ever), designing signs for the center (where to find the toilet for example), and stuff like that.

They actually gave me so much nonsense work that I had to work overtime.

But fine, I just do it, submit my report at the end of the month, and figure out my life.

She received her first payment… but something’s missing.

There was just one thing that really pissed me off: the bonus.

After the first payment, I noticed the bonus was missing. So I asked Frederick why.

He said that we never defined the milestones, so I did not reach them.

I am not stupid, and I know my rights. Fact is, HE has to give me the milestones. If he does not, then there are none, and I am entitled to the bonus regardless.

I could have made a fuss about it right then and there, but I decided to be quiet, and just go with his nonsense.

But I made sure to forward every important mail about my role, salary, and bonus to my private mail.

One day, she got into an accident.

So, this went on for about 6 to 7 months, until I had a pretty big accident which kept me in the hospital for 2 weeks, and then at home for another 6 weeks.

The company had a habit of firing people after such a long absence, which is illegal but hard to prove.

So I knew that the moment I come back, I would be fired.

She was right.

Sure enough, the day came, and as soon as I walked through the door (with my pretty sign on it), I saw Frederick and the HR lady marching towards me.

They escorted me into an office, and told me I was fired immediately, because they decided to close the training department (that never really existed in the first place).

In my country, the notice period for both parties is usually 3 months, but it is possible to let someone go effective immediately.

That means, I still get 3 months of pay, but I am not allowed to work there anymore.

Before she left, she handed over a surprise gift.

I happily signed the notice, and they let me go to my office to pack up. Little did they know that I just went to prepare my farewell gift to them.

I had already printed out EVERYTHING—calculated my overtime and the missing bonuses.

So 30 minutes later, I called the HR lady into the office, and laid it all out.

Due to the fact that they let me go immediately, they had to pay me the overtime, plus a surcharge, and of course, all the bonuses, plus the 3-month salary.

All in all, it added up to over $15k.

The only thing the HR lady said was, “We didn’t expect you to know the laws.”

I guess that was a slip up 🙂

Let’s read how Reddit users reacted to this story.

This user was happy with how the story turned out.

Such a strong and valid point here.

Yep, indeed they are!

This user says the company should pay for their bad tactics.

If you know you’re in the right, fight for the compensation that you deserve.

And tell your friends on the way out.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.