Boss Gets Lambasted for Threatening Worker with Legal Suit Over Two-Weeks’ Notice

Will the Great Resignation end this year?

It’s difficult to predict, although its rate has already plateaued as of late 2022. What could be determined are the reasons why employees quit their jobs, which cost companies thousands of dollars in loss of productivity, recruiting, training, and other activities.

According to Wally Schmader, founder of Exceptional Leaders Lab and bestselling author, employees resign from work due to the following reasons:

Photo: Pexels/cottonbro studio
  1. Dissatisfaction with manager or boss
  2. Lack of opportunity for career advancement
  3. They want a good balance between life and work
  4. They want to earn more money
  5. Dissatisfaction with the work environment

Just like the millions of people who have been resigning from their jobs, this person is in a rush to leave her work. But after giving her two-weeks’ notice, she gets threatened with a lawsuit by her boss.

Posting her dilemma on Reddit’s r/antiwork forum, an Original Poster with the username u/CaterpillarWeak893 shared the following information: “I accepted a job offer and put in my 2 weeks’ notice. Except the holidays are coming up, so technically it’s not fully 10 business days but 14 calendar days. My boss was pissed that I ‘tried to pull a fast one on her’ for that, but I just wanted to leave ASAP. It would end up being 3-4 weeks’ notice if I delayed it, and I desperately want out.”

Photo: Pexels/Karolina Grabowska

OP related that her boss did not accept her notice, because it wasn’t 10 business days, which would be an encumbrance to the company. Her boss said they could sue her for breach of contract for not giving them enough time. But OP contended that in her contract, the requirement was just two weeks.

OP went on to write, “My boss told me to push back my start date because 2 weeks isn’t enough to train someone and the team cannot function without me. I told her I couldn’t push back by the start date, but my boss stated I could be pursued legally for breach of contract. Not to mention, given the holidays and my short notice, they won’t be able to find a replacement in time. My boss tried to guilt-trip me by saying that no one else can fulfill my role. She accused me of deliberately trying to sabotage them because I’m leaving right before the month gets busy again. She then told me that I would have to work holidays, weekends, and overtime, which are not regular business days, to make up for it since we are understaffed.”

But OP was unwilling, and she could feel that the next two weeks that she was still in the company would be made worse by her disgruntled boss.

With more than 30,000 votes, commenters were showing a lot of support and empathy for OP.

Photo: Pexels/August de Richelieu

AutumnLaughter responded with this helpful advice, “I work in HR in Canada. She’s all threats and can’t do shit. Your contract says two weeks minimum. Two weeks is 14 calendar days. Tell her you’ve fulfilled your obligation under the contract and your last day will firmly be “x.” If she continues to berate you, then leave immediately due to the horrible environment she is creating for you and make sure you document in your own notes what she has done.”

Likewise, DiscoEthereum commented, “Lots of things employers try to pull are like that. Just straight bluffs and preying on uninformed workers.”

And an award-winning response from Andravisia says, “I’m in Canada. They cannot force you to work. They can deny it all they want, nothing will happen. It’s not worth it, at all. If the contract says two weeks’ notice but it doesn’t specify 10 business days or 14 calendar days, there is ambiguity in that sentence, and if it does go to court, any sort of ambiguity means it defaults to the person who signed the contract. If your former co-worker chose to give eight weeks’ notice, that is completely their choice. You are under no obligation to follow their example. Don’t let yourself be guilted. If they cannot cope without you, that is her problem for not making sure that they were properly staffed.”

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