Boss Threatening Legal Action Over Worker Giving Two Weeks' Notice Slammed

A post about a boss refusing to let her employee leave their job despite giving the required two-week notice has gone viral on Reddit, receiving 32,800 upvotes.

In a post shared on Reddit's Am I The A****** (AITA) subforum, user u/CaterpillarWeak893 asked: "My boss refused my 2 weeks' notice and wants 4-8 weeks' notice like my co-worker gave. Can she enforce this?"

The employee, who is from Canada, gave two weeks' notice, as required by their contract, after accepting a new job, but was taken aback by the angry reaction from their old employer, who demanded they stay on longer. They said they "desperately want out" but they also don't want to "burn any bridges with the company".

Newsweek spoke to Aron Solomon, a chief legal analyst, who stated two weeks is a "reasonable notice"

The Canada Labour Code says an employer must give an employee "at least two weeks written notice of their intention to terminate" their employment, or, in lieu of that, the employer must pay them two weeks' wages. The law says there is no requirement for an employee to give notice to their employer when they want to quit, unless required by their contract—as is the case here.

Speaking to Newsweek, Solomon said: "The employee said in the Reddit thread that they "didn't want to burn bridges with the company," which is going to be an exercise in futility since the company clearly wants to fight.

"In Canada, absent a contract, the employee generally (varies slightly by province) needs to give "reasonable notice." Two weeks is exactly what is generally understood as reasonable notice," said Solomon who works for a digital marketing agency for lawyers, Esquire Digital. "But this employee has a contract that specifies two weeks' notice. So, no matter how inconvenient it is for these employees to leave when they want to leave, they have met both their contractual and statutory obligation and should leave when they want to with a clear conscience."

In a lengthy post published on December 14, the poster explains they accepted a job offer and handed in their two-week notice. However, the Christmas holidays are near so "technically it's not fully 10 business days but 14 calendar days."

"My boss was p***** 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," they wrote.

As a result of this, the notice period was denied and the employee was told it would be a breach of the working contract if not enough notice was worked.

The post said: "She [the boss] went on to say even a full 2 weeks isn't enough and I should be providing 4 weeks or better yet 8 weeks like my coworker. I insisted on 2 weeks since my contract said to provide 2 weeks minimum and I also have a start date."

"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 start date but my boss stated I could be pursued legally for breach of contract," it added.

The employee has taken to the internet to ask for advice as the boss has requested a longer notice period and declared the firm won't be able to find a "replacement in time".

The post said: "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. I said I couldn't do that but she said I had no choice and ended it there."

What Do the Comments Say?

There has been a storm of support from 6,700 Redditors, some of whom work in human resources.

The top comment has received 16,900 upvotes, it said: "I work in HR in Canada. She's all threats and can't do s***. 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."

Another wrote: "They CAN'T enforce it, is more like it. We aren't slaves. We can leave a job whenever we want."

Another popular comment said: "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."

Newsweek reached out to u/CaterpillarWeak893, for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

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