Using a company trip as leverage to trap employees into staying for a year is not a retention strategy — it is a legal liability waiting to happen.

So when a new HR rep was ordered by her boss to have every employee sign a pact that would fine them for resigning, she had no intention of following through.

And before the meeting was even over, she was already looking up the labor laws.

Keep reading for the full story.

I’m an HR and I just need to get this off my chest

So I’m a fresh grad and I got a job as an HR rep at a small firm.

For context, I’m the only HR here and there are less than 20 employees in my office.

She explains the main drama of the story.

We just had an office outing a couple of weeks ago — basically a paid vacation for 3 days, with 2 days on the road and 1 day with a full itinerary. I have my own opinion about this, but that’s another story.

Back to the problem — today, 2 of our employees submitted their resignation letters.

The boss took this as a huge slap in the face.

This ticked my boss off because “we spent money for the outing and now they’re basically being ungrateful.”

So he decides to act completely unreasonably

So my boss told me to make all of our employees sign a pact tomorrow that states:

If the employee participated in the outing 2 weeks ago, they can’t resign for the next year.

If they want to resign, they need to pay around 60% of their monthly paycheck as a penalty.

If they refuse to sign the pact, my boss won’t give out their reference letter.

The HR lady can hardly believe what she’s seeing.

I was so shocked. That’s beyond cruel.

I’m currently going through the laws about workers’ rights with my friend. I have no intention of making our employees sign that ridiculous pact.

I’m just bewildered and at a loss for words.

The employees will be lucky to have HR on their side.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an IT department who keeps receiving tickets for a company that was previously spun off.

What did Reddit think?

This user affirms just how horrible an idea a contract like this is.

The boss is being completely manipulative with this stunt.

HR’s whole job is to step in when things like this happen.

Maybe it’s possible she could reason with her boss.

If you have to force your employees to stay at your company, it’s probably a sign you’re not a great boss.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.