Freelance Writer Secured Work Through A Longtime HR Friend, But After The Friend Backed A Pay Cut, Freelancer Went To The CEO And Threatened The Friend’s Job

Benjamin Cottrell

4 days ago

Pexels/Reddit

Being a freelancer requires a fair amount of flexibility, but fair pay should never be up for debate.

So when one writer was suddenly informed she’d be paid a much lower rate than she agreed on, she pushed back against her HR friend.

That’s when friendship and finances clashed hard.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for sending an email marking the CEO when HR (my friend of 16 years) asked me not to?

I was told by a friend (who I have known for 16 years) that there’s a freelance position for a writer open at her company.

I applied for the role, did assignments, attended interview, did the whole procedure, and secured the job.

It was for a Social Media Content Writer who occasionally writes blogs.

This freelancer had worked hard to outline their scope of work.

As for the payment, since they didn’t have blog requirements every month, I had negotiated a monthly package for social media (for which I was hired), and per-word basis for blog.

We both agreed to this.

Over the past month, they delegated content writing work for their website, pamphlets, conversation design, 2,000-word blogs, etc.

But they soon discovered actually getting paid would be an uphill battle.

I had reached out to the HR (my friend) and enquired how they would pay me for this, to which she said it would be sorted (I would get the package discussed and per word for blogs, regardless).

Towards the end of the month, I hadn’t received payment but a message from HR stating that I would be paid only on a per-word basis and not the package, as that was exclusively for social media and I hadn’t worked on that this month.

It was clear the freelancer and the HR department were not on the same page.

I immediately called her and informed her that we hadn’t discussed commercials for other formats and it would be unfair to be paid only on a per-word basis.

I asked her how much they were paying me, and she told me the amount.

It was peanuts, less than intern money.

I got extremely disappointed that they got their entire website rewritten, blogs, and other job done and refused to pay fairly.

HR asked for more time, so the freelancer complied.

When I told her I would be escalating this issue to the CEO (it’s a start-up and he was basically taking the decisions), she told me to wait till the amount gets credited (by the end of day), as she was not supposed to reveal the actual amount to me as an HR personnel.

I waited till the end of day.

No amount was credited.

So the freelancer had to reach out yet again.

So, I sent a long email justifying my side.

I requested them to send a break-up of the payment before it is credited.

Several hours before I emailed them, I also messaged her saying she can tell her team that I asked her the basis of payment and that she told me that it is per word and not the exact amount.

She didn’t reply to that.

Then the CEO gets involved, but this causes some additional drama.

The CEO replied to the email saying he’ll look into it and that they are willing to re-evaluate.

My friend has been mad at me and not been talking to me.

During the call, things got a little heated.

She told me the pay seems unfair but she couldn’t do much more.

I disagreed.

To the freelancer, her friend should have done more to help her.

I thought it was her responsibility as an HR personnel to keep up the agreement the organisation has with a freelancer.

Although, she did ask me to mail after amount gets credited, but I only waited till the end of the day when the amount was supposed to be credited.

She is a friend I care about and obviously didn’t intend any harm to her or her job.

But, at the same time, I thought I should stand up for myself.

AITA?

Maybe the friend was right to fear for her job.