Employer Tries To Force A Worker To Sign A Resignation Letter They Claim He Wrote Himself
“I believe they were trying to take advantage of him, since he didn’t speak English.”
MAYA LAB | Shutterstock.com After his friend came to him, asking for help, a Reddit poster on the “Anti Work” forum couldn’t help but make a post detailing his workplace experience and asking for advice.
The poster’s friend, a full-time employee with an unnamed company, was presented with a voluntary resignation letter from his boss — that he did not write. After being asked to sign it, he decided to take a picture instead, refusing to sign his name on something that he honestly “couldn't even read.”
“He barely reads or speaks English,” his friend added in his post. “This letter was entirely in English.”
Most commenters agreed it seemed the worker was being taken advantage of. “You need to contact an employment lawyer,” one even wrote. “Something isn’t right here.”
An employer tried to force a worker to sign a voluntary resignation letter, claiming that the worker had written it himself.
The Reddit poster, the worker’s friend, is desperately seeking advice to mediate his situation at work. “He took a picture of the letter after the office lady wrote ‘Refused to Sign’ on it … Is there anything we can do?”
Like many other employees working in toxic environments, similar to creator Manny on TikTok, being forced to resign is often a passive way for employers to avoid addressing the true issues plaguing their teams. Instead of working to address and resolve issues that employees struggle with, like lacking compensation or a bad boss, they instead force resignations in an attempt to silence reports.
“I was forced to voluntarily resign after submitting an HR report stating that my supervisor was creating a toxic workplace environment,” Manny said. “All I wanted was an HR meeting to mediate with my supervisor … I just wanted to put a stop to it before it got worse.”
Not only was the letter in English, a language the worker didn’t speak or read well, but they also gave him an ultimatum to try to compel him to sign.
Instead of directly addressing their “reasons” for termination, it seems this employer is trying to sidestep their responsibilities in “letting this worker go” and instead forcing him to resign.
Whether it’s a matter of unemployment payouts or time, Reddit commenters agreed that something was unsettling about the entire situation.
“He was told to sign this resignation letter (1 week notice) or [he would be] fired right there,” the friend wrote. “He didn’t sign it, but they typed up the letter on his behalf, making it sound like he typed it up and printed it out.”
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Adding that the letter was written in fluent English, he emphasized that his friend doesn’t speak, write, or read English anywhere near the level it was presented in.
“I believe they were trying to take advantage of him, since he didn’t speak English,” he wrote, trying to figure out the true meaning behind the employer’s strange actions.
Many commenters theorized that the employer was committing fraud by trying to exploit the language barrier.
“The difference between resigning and being terminated comes down to decision making,” employment lawyer Craig Levey on TikTok explained.
“In the case of a resignation, the employee is making the decision to leave the company. For terminations or layoffs, the company is making the decision.”
That’s not only the standard and expectation for workers across the country; it’s the law.
“A company can’t force you,” he added. “This decision has huge ramifications when it comes to a lawsuit or an employee’s application for unemployment benefits.”
Specifically, for unemployment benefits, making an employee resign rather than proceeding with termination would relieve the employer of their responsibility to provide unemployment benefits.
“Contact an employment lawyer and run them through all of this,” one person wrote. ‘File a complaint … Start a lawsuit. Collect your profit.”
As lawyer Levey explained, there are situations where people leave a company by choice to protect their health and well-being, but in this Reddit poster’s case, that doesn’t seem to be the narrative.
Not only are his employer’s actions reprehensible by law, but they’re also completely unethical. Make sure you look out for yourself and keep a paper trail, if nothing else.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories