A company should never fire an employee without fully understanding what it is they do for the business.

What would you do if you held the encrypted license information for an expensive piece of software, but your temporary manager fired you for personal reasons, and they didn’t get that license before you left?

That is what happened to the worker in this story, so when the company called him for the license, he told them it was on his laptop, which had already been wiped clean. They eventually had to hire him back with a major promotion and a lot more money.

I think he handled this unfortunate situation very well. Read through the full story here and see if you agree.

How One Manager’s Layoff Decision Led to a $200K Mistake and an Unintended Comeback

Backstory: This is another story about Sam and Murad.

Every manager is different.

My manager, Sam, is extremely chill and an outstanding leader.

His manager, Murad, is a stickler for the rules. I work as an infrastructure and configuration manager and happen to be one of the more expensive resources on the project from my domain.

Being first in line to get fired is never a good feeling.

This story takes place in January 2023. The company was undergoing some restructuring, and most of our contracts included a “Last In, First Out” (LIFO) clause by default.

When I joined in March 2022, I took a 10% pay cut to remove the LIFO clause from my contract because I was seeking job stability. Although I was still earning more than I did in my previous job, it was only 20% more instead of 30%.

Software licenses are essential for many systems.

Story: As the infrastructure manager, I am responsible for maintaining all the product licenses the project uses. One of these product licenses requires a digital signature to function.

Typically, such tasks require the use of service accounts, which are owned by users. When someone leaves the organization, their service accounts are automatically transferred to their manager.

This seems like a simple workaround.

Unfortunately, service accounts cannot have digital signatures, so I had to use mine in this case. The product activation process involves using the corresponding digital signature certificate (DSC).

Since I already had a DSC for tax purposes, I decided to reuse it instead of obtaining a separate one. In India, DSCs are encrypted and require a one-time password (OTP) from my mobile number every time they are used.

Wow, this employee is very dedicated.

This mobile number must be associated with my National ID (AADHAAR), as that’s how most encryption services work in India.

Sam was on vacation, his first in five years. Apart from taking a one-day leave in 2018 when he moved from India to Europe, he had never even taken a sick day.

A two-month vacation would be incredible.

He recently got married, and for his honeymoon, he took a two-month vacation to travel all over Europe with his new wife. In his absence, Murad was overseeing the project. Management asked Murad to cut 15% of his workforce.

Murad was not pleased with me. So, the inevitable happened. I was called into a meeting with Murad and HR. Murad asked me to voluntarily resign, or else I would be let go.

Trying to get someone to quit is a common tactic for companies everywhere.

This is a tactic companies in India often use, as getting fired is considered a much bigger deal than simply losing a job. It’s a cultural thing, I suppose—being fired carries a stigma that most people want to avoid.

HR usually tries to persuade people to resign voluntarily, so that it doesn’t become public knowledge that they were fired. This tactic often works well, as resigning saves the company from having to pay three months’ salary, which they would owe if they were to lay off an employee.

It is never fun to be fired, but at least he will get some money for it.

However, I knew better, so I refused his request. Murad was quite taken aback by this. Since I had called his bluff, he had to double down to show he meant business.

By the end of the day, I received my termination email, with instructions on how to return company property I had.

He wants to get rid of this stuff right away.

Here’s the MC: I replied to the email, asking to schedule the return of the laptop promptly, as I needed to leave the city for a few days (fake excuse). My objective was to have them pick up my laptop from my place and format it as soon as possible.

This will be important later. By the end of the week, my laptop was picked up. I had already backed up a copy of my DSC, so there were no issues on my end.

This is like a ticking time bomb.

Fast forward to mid-February, and there was an issue with the product. A support ticket was raised, and the support team wanted to upgrade to the next version as this was a known bug that had been resolved in the next version.

The product was used once a week to create a weekly report, but no one really looked at it except for Sam, who was still on vacation. So, its absence wasn’t likely to be noticed for at least a full month. The end-of-the-month report would bring it to upper management’s attention.

Wow, that’s a costly program.

Now, support SOP requires a license check. Hence it required decryption of the existing license. Long story short, I received a call asking for the DSC & OTP, and I rejected.

Murad eventually was informed, who asked the support team to provide a new license. The product support team informed him that they couldn’t provide a new license without the company purchasing one. The license cost for this product was $200k.

Sam isn’t going to be happy with this.

At this point, Murad decided that they could live without the report. He mostly handled the team side of the project, so he wasn’t really aware of the impact of this report.

Sam returned from vacation at the end of February. By the first week of March, he noticed the missing weekly report and promptly called me.

Why would he help the company that fired him?

I informed him that Murad had fired me. Sam was quite perplexed, to say the least. Unlike Murad, he knew that the current license needed my DSC to work, so he asked if my DSC was available.

I told him that my laptop had a copy, but it was taken. He checked the system, and sure enough, the laptop had been formatted. He asked me if there was any way to resolve the issue. I informed him that even if there were a way, I couldn’t help him without being an employee. He asked me to wait for a few days.

Upper management is not going to be happy.

There is a quarterly meeting that takes place in the middle of every third month, attended by the CEO and top brass. At the March meeting, everyone noticed the missing report.

The CEO asked why this important project was missing the report. Sam informed him (there were about 90 people on the call) that a key person had been let go, and the report couldn’t be prepared without spending $200k on a new license.

I bet he loved listening to this call.

Now, I heard the recording of this call after rejoining, so I’ll share the relevant conversation below:

CEO: Is this related to the layoff?

Sam: Yes.

CEO: Why wasn’t this person’s work backed up? Why was he on the LIFO list if he was so key?

Murad is not going to look good.

Sam: He wasn’t on the LIFO list.

Murad (jumps in): He joined less than a year ago; he must be on that list.

CEO: Let’s discuss this offline after the call.

He knows he has a lot of leverage here.

I don’t know what transpired in the offline meeting, but two days later, I received a call from the head of HR offering me my job back. I asked for the following:

A 100% raise & promotion to next level.

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Out of LIFO, obviously

He is asking for a lot, but he deserves it.

Permanent WFH mentioned in contract

I keep the termination payout

Since it will be counted as a new job in my profile, a joining bonus (20% of annual salary)

His requirements were a small price to pay.

I joined back at the 3rd week of March. I received a brand new laptop within 30 mins of joining, hand delivered at my home by someone from IT in my city.

It took me 10 mins to decrypt the license using my backed up DSC, 30 mins to upgrade the product to next version. By end of lunch, CEO had the report in hand.

Things really worked out perfectly for him.

My new (promoted) role offers a 60% increase in my medical insurance amount, a take-home company car, option to purchase company stock, and lots of other upgrades.

I personally thanked Murad on my first week for the promotion (and recognition by CEO) in a team wide call (the same 90 people, minus the top brass & CEO).

And this is why you should never fire someone without fully understanding what they do for the company.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this situation.

Murad clearly didn’t know what he was doing.

The company might want to get rid of him, still.

This would be a smart clause.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a teenager who wants to work, but his mom thinks working past 8pm is too late for high school.

Murad is a terrible manager, but he hasn’t been fired.

This commenter says to watch out for Murad, though.

He played his cards perfectly and has a better job than ever. Unfortunately, the manager who fired him is still there, though, so he needs to be careful.

The bad manager was made to look bad once, but he will be coming for revenge.