Top News

“HR is not your friend” is a common saying these days, and if you ask anyone who’s been in the corporate world a while, they’ll tell you it is unequivocally the truth. But that’s likely because they’ve had to learn the hard way, after trusting a human resources representative who threw them under the bus.

Such is the case for a worker on Reddit who has found herself potentially out of a job for having had a mental health crisis. But what happened to her is not only breathtakingly cruel and unethical, it’s also likely a brazen violation of employment law, and it’s left people urging to lawyer up. Now.

The worker’s mental health crisis was twisted into a resignation.

The worker wrote that she recently survived an attempt on her own life and, in a true indication of how bizarrely inhumane American work culture is, still made the effort to call into work to explain she was hospitalized.

In a bid to remain professional, she also stated to HR that she understood if any repercussions were to come from her absence, which, for obvious reasons, came out of nowhere, without the usual warnings and scheduling of time off.

Andrii Iemelianenko | Shutterstock

If you’ve been around the corporate block a few times, you’re likely saying the same thing I said when I first read this story: “That was your first mistake.” Because it is often the case that any attempt to deal fairly with HR will swiftly be used against you, and that is exactly what happened here.

: Employee Reportedly Fired For Poor Productivity After Consistent 20-Hour Workdays Put Him In The Hospital Twice

After telling her she can’t come back to her job, they twisted her acquiescence into her quitting.

After being discharged from the hospital, she called HR as instructed, and when asked what her plan was, she told them she planned to return to work. “They say they ‘don’t know if that’s an option anymore,” which right off the bat is likely illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act, since many mental illnesses that result in attempts are protected disabilities.

But that was only the opening act. “Ten minutes pass and HR calls back and says that my manager told her that I said I was fine with being fired so that’s the route they’re going with,” she wrote.

She took this to mean she was terminated. “Nope! they’re labeling it a resignation” she wrote. “I said multiple times: I am not quitting, I did not quit, I said I understood any repercussions, including being FIRED.” The HR rep simply countered that it was not a termination, which is not how anything works.

: Why Some Employees Quietly Just Vanish Without Quitting — ‘No Email, No Slack, Just … Gone’

This is almost certainly illegal on a level most employment lawyers would salivate for.

To be clear, American employment law is notoriously full of holes, and establishing a case can be difficult even when it’s open and shut. That being said, this woman’s situation is almost farcical in its potential illegality.

ADA issues aside, it often is legal for a U.S. employer to fire you for a medical crisis. It’s just one of the many lovely features of our broken employment laws. But simply telling someone they resigned over the phone is not legal, nor is firing them over the phone. She is still employed until she is presented with paperwork stating that she isn’t.

In the interim, people in these situations should immediately email a summary of the incriminating conversation to everyone involved and ask them to clarify discrepancies in writing. As one Redditor identifying themself as a lawyer explained, “This is what we call CYA: covering your [behind]. Either they don’t respond and it’s presumed an accurate description of events or they respond in writing with even more info to support your potential claims.”

With that in hand, she should call a lawyer. Most will consult for free, and many will work on “contingency,” in which they only get paid if you win your case. Many also take certain cases for free, and most firms work this into their yearly budgets.

The bottom line is that not only is this diabolically cruel and unethical, but virtually nothing about it is even legal. But corporations and HR reps get away with this stuff all the time because they know most people don’t know their rights and will be too afraid to assert them if they do. Don’t fall for it.

: 3 Common Things Your Boss Actually Can’t Force You To Do, According To An Employment Lawyer

John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.