Employee calls out boss attempting to cut 50% of their salary for not working on their day off

Boss-employee relationships have always been a mix of sugar and spice, but not always in a palatable manner. While there are some truly respectful and healthy boss-employee dynamics where both parties enjoy an almost-friendship, Reddit user u/superaggy doesn't seem to be among those few lucky ones. In a recent thread, they shared a peculiar situation at their workplace and sought the internet's two cents on the matter. They revealed that despite most of the employees at the organization already working overtime from Monday to Saturday, their boss expected them to work on Sundays as well.

The employee shared: "Earlier, I used to get a bunch of WhatsApp texts and phone calls on Sundays from my boss." Now, to make things easier for themself, they have started using an exclusive WhatsApp and phone number for their work. They added, "I deactivate both from my settings once I leave my office on Saturday evening and don't reactivate until it is Monday morning."

However, not everyone is happy with the employee's plan to establish a work-life balance. They revealed that their boss and some of their "colleagues have requested the HR and higher authorities" to deduct 50% of their salary due to being "unreachable on Sundays."

The comment section of the post was appalled by the shocking revelation and lent support to the employee for being treated so unfairly and harshly. u/Billibadijai wrote, "If they do a 50% reduction on your salary, you can probably do 50% less in your job. And while you still hold this job, you can get another remote job and get more income." While it makes sense that a 50% deduction for not working on a paid holiday is totally unjust, it is also worrisome how organizations can make up rules as per their whims and fancies.

u/Complete-Tax7526 wrote, "If you are on an FTC - there should be a clause in which states that you should get weekends off. If not, your HR should be able to provide the official working hours of the company in writing to you, post which you can claim a lawsuit."

While most people in the comment section showed support for the employee, one comment by u/__app_dev__ shared a different perspective. It reads: "Probably not the popular advice on this sub but perhaps keep your phone on and respond on Sundays (or any day) and then focus on getting a better job at the same time. Hopefully, you are young and can get a new job easier than an older person. Personally, I do Software Development and was making $100k/year USD with only High School before I was 21 (I'm American), but to do that, I put in a ton of extra hours to learn what I needed while I was on the job and worked 7 days a week. Now I see my income is way behind what a lot of companies pay (especially tech), so I'm back to spending 7 days a week again doing something related to my work (learning a detailed level of ML, for example). I'm single, so it's easy, but I'm older now and know not everyone can put in enough hours to move on."

What do you think? Is it fair to slash someone's salary by 50% because they won't respond to work messages on their paid day off?