'Consider this your two-week warning': Elected official threatens to fire staff for job hunting without permission — Reddit says document everything
A post on Reddit’s r/jobs has raised eyebrows across the platform after a worker revealed that their boss, who was an elected official, called a staff meeting to announce that any employee looking for a new job without telling them first would effectively be given a two-week notice.
The original poster is among those quietly job hunting, having had to ask two current coworkers to serve as references for a recent interview. When the boss somehow learned that some staff were searching, they called a meeting framing the situation as a matter of loyalty and professionalism, suggesting that looking for other work without disclosing it was “rude” and that staff owed it to the boss to come forward voluntarily.
The threat was then reinforced the following day when a coworker was called in separately and told they were expected to “encourage” anyone looking for a new job to speak with the boss directly, effectively asking staff to inform on each other.
“Is this ethical, legal, or justifiable?” the original poster asked. “Do I have any leg to stand on?”
What Reddit said
The thread was unambiguous that the boss’ behaviour was out of line.
The most immediately useful advice came from a commenter who approached it professionally: “I’d tell them to document exactly what was said, including dates, attendees, and any follow-up conversations. Don’t argue, don’t volunteer information, and don’t speculate. Stick to facts. If retaliation occurs later, contemporaneous notes carry far more weight than memories formed months afterwards.”
Several commenters pushed back on the framing that the employer had “done something” for their staff by paying them. “Paying someone a wage in exchange for work performed is not ‘doing them a favour.’ They’re not a charity helping you out. You earned every penny,” one wrote. Another kept it concise: “Boss does not know how employment works.”
Another offered a suggestion: “It’d be a damn shame if someone anonymously reported this to a local investigative reporter.”
One commenter shared a parallel experience that ended with a note of dark satisfaction: “I had a new boss ask me that. He actually told me he’d fire me if he heard I was looking for work. Didn’t build loyalty. He was fired about three months later for never coming to work. Ha ha.”
Enjoying this article?
Subscribe to get more stories like this delivered to your inbox.
At the end of the day, what one does during their free time is their own business. No one knows the person’s circumstances, and they may have been working in a toxic environment (which is likely, given how their senior reacted), or they may be struggling financially, so they’re looking for a job to help make ends meet.
Writer