Supervisor tries to fire the employee without informing HR, ends up having to quit their own job

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 3, 2023. It has since been updated.

Some bosses can be vicious when it comes to firing their employees. Although some adhere to the standard protocols and conduct it amicably and ethically, others take it further and become devious. It takes a certain level of nerve to make an employee feel like they have been fired so they won't have to show up. Yet to make matters worse, this supervisor sacked her employee secretly without consulting HR. TikTok user Samantha Lee (@samanthamtlee13) shared screenshots of emails between her and her supervisor, Sarah, on TikTok to express her disappointment at what her boss had done. According to Daily Dot, Lee had specifically told Sarah that she would be unavailable for work due to a family emergency.

The first screenshot was of an email from the boss telling her “there may have been a misunderstanding” and that she expected Lee to come into work during the two weeks she would be off to be with her family. She added, “I could not give you leave but am very sorry about your grandfather and wish your family my condolences.” Lee is a part-time worker, and, as per the protocol, she does not have to “request” time off, but only inform her boss of when she wouldn’t be able to work. In response, she said, “I apologize for any inconvenience, but my priorities are to be with my family.” Her boss quickly followed up and said that “this will most likely be fine due to bereavement leave,” which gave the impression that the conversation was over. 

Lee was back to minding her business and getting on with the day when she received another email from Sarah telling her that she had been terminated from the agreement. “I too had a grandparent pass away while I was working abroad and couldn’t attend the funeral, so I can empathize a little bit,” her boss wrote. “Although I couldn’t approve your request, I wish I could have. At this time, we are severely understaffed, and it was not possible.” Sarah went on to add that HR has decided to end the agreement. “Personally, I wish this did not have to end this way. I wish you the best in your future endeavors. If you need any advice or need someone to listen, I would be happy to lend an ear.”

Confused, Lee waited a few days to hear from HR but did not receive anything. She emailed them instead, which led to an ugly revelation that Sarah had lied about her termination. Lee noted, “I have CC’d my supervisors on this email as well because there seems to be some confusion.” They replied saying, "I am sorry that you received conflicting information. My condolences to you and your family. To clarify, Human Resources did not advise or confirm a termination." The people in the comments were revolted by the actions of her supervisor. It was clearly a very immature move on her part.

"Sent it personally so you would think you were fired, not show up, and then actually get fired for NCNS. She didn’t think you’d verify smh," said @backwardsankle. "The fact “we’re severely understaffed” and “you’re terminated” are in the same email is sending me," added @emptyangls. "Tell me she doesn't have a job anymore? Impersonating admin and making decisions way above her pay grade is a pretty severe problem," asked @solid_gold_hobo. To this, Lee replied, "I don’t know what they said to her but I didn’t get an explanation from the organization. She wasn’t fired but she did “quit” within the month."