Loyalty only goes so far when leadership forgets their employees are human.

After years of dedication and declining mental health, one exhausted employee was backed into a corner by a cruel HR director who demanded same-day medical paperwork to go on disability.

So the employee’s doctor decided to give the director a taste of her own cruelty.

Read on for the full story.

HR are there to protect the company. Not their employees

I’ve been struggling with my mental health for many years. Up till a few months ago, I was still able to keep up at work even through extreme client pressure. Then I started begging for help because I was struggling a lot.

The employee thought HR was going to help them out, but they soon learned the department’s true colors.

They promised to move me to a different team with less pressure but kept moving the goalposts, telling me that they couldn’t find a replacement due to client requirements.

Early this morning, they ambushed me with a meeting with our HR director to give me two options — either I get fired after a disciplinary hearing or go on disability.

I’ve been begging for disability for months, so naturally, I was really happy to go with option two since I have good income insurance through the company.

But HR managed to throw yet another curveball.

Then the HR head demanded that I get the doctor’s paperwork done today.

I’d already been in contact with the doctor, and she couldn’t get it done because she’d just returned from leave and had a huge backlog.

The HR head demanded that I go to the doctor’s office to get it done today.

So the employee put their plan into motion.

I was feeling utterly malicious when I complied, even though it meant a two-hour drive with the distance and traffic.

I got there and managed to chat with my doctor for two minutes in between appointments, and she requested permission to be rude to the HR head — and I told her to go for it.

This plan seemed to work like a charm.

I don’t know what she said in that email, but the HR head was suddenly very reasonable. Now I have a full week to get the paperwork done.

I’m happy. The HR head is the wife of the CEO, and the company is about to take a huge hit because the client has found alternatives. So it’s going to hugely impact their bank accounts.

It gives me a very happy, fuzzy feeling. I gave years of loyal service, and they’re going to get their karma very soon — even if my malicious compliance is just a drop in the bucket.

Finally a dose of reality for this HR director.

What did Reddit think?

The best match for HR may just be someone who doesn’t even work at the company.

This former HR employee hates what it’s become.

Employees can protect themselves against HR by recognizing what they’re really there to do.

This commenter offers an alternative idea.

This HR director learned the hard way that when you push the wrong person, they push back.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.