'I applaud your father for... calling their bluff': Employee refutes his job's petty HR team with his own evidence

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
May 26, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Imagine working hard for decades for the same company, pushing towards retirement age, only for them to turn around and treat you terribly. Many companies simply do not care about their employee wellbeing, instead, they only care about their bottom line. There was a time where working for a company for decades really meant something — the company could be trusted to care about their employees who were loyal to the business over the years. But these days, it's all about keeping shareholders and C-suite people happy. Employees just don't have the same value to a corporation. 

This guy shared how one HR department tried to get their father to leave the company on the eve of his pension coming to date. After years and years of dedicated work, this place would have totally gotten rid of the OP's dad if they were able to. At least this dude had some tricks up his sleeve, and didn't let HR get the best of him! 

Next, check out these crispy crunchy crimes against pizza. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/r/MaliciousCompliance Posted by u/Sorkoth1 23 16 25 19 2 HR tried to Get Rid of my Dad right before he was able to get his pension SOC My Father worked for a Forbes 500 company since the 70s. Moved up the ranks as a software engineer and management, has patents for the company that saved it millions of dollars. He's almost to pension age and suddenly HR starts making his life miserable. He noticed this trend was happening to some of his coworkers when they were getting close to age 60 a
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 02
    Font - HR Lady calls him into the office and says that he was not punching in and out at the correct time. My Father, an engineer, is very very detail oriented. He knew that these were false accusations and asked HR to prove it. They came back a week later and couldn't prove it. And he said, "Of course you can't. I have been driving the corporate carpool bus from [A major city 40 miles away from the company] for the last 15 years. I always have 16 witnesses on my clock in time and I haven't been
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 03
    Font - HR Lady came back a week later and they said that they were going to fire him for letting people into the building without badging. He asked to see when and where he was letting someone into the building without badging. They showed that he held the door for his best friend who had also been working there since the 70s who had his foot cut off after having type 2 diabetes. He was in a wheelchair.
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 04
    Font - Prior to this my dad took the chief of security out for lunch and told him about how this company wanted him to leave before he got his pension so he got some footage of his own. My dad said, "That is very interesting. You are going to fire me for holding the door for my best friend of 35 years after his foot was amputated and he was in a wheelchair? Fine then I hope you fire the CEO and yourself as well!!!" He then proceeded to show footage of the HR lady holding the door for his friend
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 05
    Font - My Father ended up staying there until he got his pension. Edit: I don't know his finances and he probably wouldn't have lost the whole pension but there was a definite financial difference from being fired prior to reaching age 60 and making it to age 60.
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 06
    Font - Edit 2: So this blew up so much that my brother who didn't know I was on Reddit texted me and said "You are reddit famous. That's a story about Dad! I knew this was you." Also some of you are wondering why a Software Engineer would have to clock in and out, well he didn't. I meant to use the word badge in and out of the building, they went that far to talk with security to see his badge timestamps. There are more things that led to this getting bad and I didn't want to write pages and pag
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 07
    Font - Final Update: Dad quit that job a while ago and made his own company in his retirement. He has used his own money to patent a new invention that desalinates seawater and provides clean solar energy. He has patents for this in America, India, and China and is looking for some capital to provide clean water and power to 3rd world countries. If interested in helping him build his first power plant please send me a message.
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 08
    Font - latents 2 I hope hordes of future employees learned of this, made sure their contracts had incredible immediate returns and then abandoned the company and explained exactly why. Those who reward loyalty with treachery deserve what they get in return.
    via u/latents
  • 09
    Font - KTB1962 Not a surprise. My company had done similar things for years. They finally got caught and someone ended up suing for ageism. My company ended up settling, but part of the settlement was the entirety of the upper management of HR all had to be fired because they were the one who instituted that "policy". 6 people let go, 1 of which was less than a year from their retirement and full benefits... The past 15+ years have been a bit better.
    via u/KTB1962
  • 10
    Smile - Sorkoth1 OP A lot of people were being fired at 59 1/2 years of age
    via u/Sorkoth1
  • 11
    Font - RazzBeth My company likes to get rid of people at 54 because at 55 they have to pay out the RHSA account. Why offer it unless you plan on paying it out? To show new hires how wonderful the benefits are...
    via u/RazzBeth
  • 12
    Font - Current-Ticket4214. This is why I'll never turn down more money from another company based on loyalty to my current. You are your own pension. Save your money on your own. these corporations.
    via u/Current-Ticket4214
  • 13
    Font - CitizenSnipsJr I'm all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part of what I'm being paid for here is my loyalty. But if there were somewhere else that valued loyalty more highly, I'm going wherever they value loyalty the most.
    via u/CitizenSnipsJr
  • 14
    Font - antihero2303 You need unions to protect you against this s. Then and now
    via u/antihero2303
  • 15
    Font - Farranor If he didn't show his hand, he could've let them fire him and then sued the c out of them for wrongful termination. More hassle but also more money. That said, what kind of engineer and manager is driving a bus and clocking in/out? This story doesn't make sense to me.
    via u/Farranor
  • 16
    Font - AceBlazewing What senseless corruption. Just how greedy was this company if HR was bullying and falsely accusing employees approaching eligibility for pension? I applaud your father for not letting them get to him and even calling their bluff.
    via u/AceBlazewing
  • 17
    Font - D [deleted] Companies in the US have a fiduciary and legal responsibility to shareholders to maximize profits. This is, er... one way of achieving higher profits
    via u/deleted
  • 18
    Font - PRHerg1970 That's weird. Normally, the way pensions work is that you vest after a certain amount of years. You can only lose the pension, for really egregious acts, like embezzlement n such. But this is yet another example as to why working class people NEED UNIONS.
    via u/PRHerg1970
  • 19
    Font - BirthdayAgent Your story makes it sound like your father knew that's what they were going to say and was ready for it
    via u/BirthdayAgent

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work stories toxic-workplace workplace-story job work human resources workplace Horrible Bosses Father
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