'She said she wasn't blowing up people's texts at midnight because it's illegal': Manager calls out their employee for texting work group chat around 12am

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jul 19, 2026 9:00 PM EDT

Is it right to text a work group chat when it's late?

It's usually not a great idea to talk work after hours. It's best to leave your employees to their free time. Work already takes up so much of your life as is, and you don't need it to take up more. So if your boss asks you to do something after hours, then you should probably ignore them. It's best to set boundaries early and often. If you don't do this, then you might end up being taken advantage of by the people that you work for. Of course, though, it's up to you whether or not to answer these kinds of messages when you're off the clock. There's no rule against sending them in the first place. Sure, it's bad practice to expect your employees to log hours off the clock, but it's within your right to send those messages in the first place. We have technology that allows us to turn off notifications from certain people or certain channels whenever we'd like to. If you want to forget about work soon. If you want to forget about work as soon as you walk out of those doors, then you're allowed to do that. The best managers, though, know and understand boundaries. 

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  • A woman in black sits at a desk looking at a work message on her phone
    via Unsplash+ (Oleg Ivanov)

    A woman sits at a desk looking at a work message on her phone

  • Group Chat: Is it illegal?

    Odd question. Last night when closing, the other MOD had an off deposit, which I was to verify and confirmed by hand and with the cash counter it was indeed off.
    via LeadershipBubbly3351
  • I suggested she make a post on the the Leadership Group Chat, even though everyone was likely asleep, just to keep everyone abreast of what was happening so it could be addressed in the morning when we were all avalible and those that would be there at 5am would know SOMETHING was up.
    via LeadershipBubbly3351
  • She attacked me for even suggesting it, saying she wasn't 'blowing up' people's texts at midnight because it's 'illegal'. She also accused me of accusing her of stealing, but that's besides the point.
    via LeadershipBubbly3351
  • Are group chats or texting a group of managers, who all AGREED to be in the chat for reasons like the one one above, actually illegal, or was she just spitting anger at me cuz I am an easy target?
    via LeadershipBubbly3351

  • Commenters agreed that this was strange behavior.

    Enough-Reindeer1033 It's not illegal. She's just very sus at this point
    via Enough-Reindeer1033
  • creatively inclined It's not illegal to text an urgent issue late at night.
    via creatively_inclined
  • MuchDevelopment7084 You caught her stealing. That's why she's blowing up. The only thing illegal is her probable theft.
    via MuchDevelopment7084
  • An employee holds a black phone with a work group chat pulled up
    via Asterfolio

    An employee holds a black phone with a work group chat pulled up

  • They don't ask their employees to do things that they're not comfortable with, and they respect their sense of work-life balance. The manager in this story, though, was caught between two worlds. On the one hand, they were trying to do the right thing and notify a group of employees about a work problem. On the other hand, they were trying to do it late at night, when some employees might be bothered if they saw a work text. This led to a classic office dispute where they weren't sure whether or not they were in the right. So they reached out to the Internet for a little bit of advice, which was served up on a silver platter. Keep reading to see what they had to say. 

  • Duque_de_Osuna It is not illegal, maybe not the nicest thing to do, but people generally have their phones on silent at that time anyway. She sounds weird.
    via Duque_de_Osuna
  • ravens-n-roses I text my manager at 3am sometimes if it's urgent. Nobody keeps their work phone next to their bed. It's perfectly fine. And if they do keep it on and by their bed that's both a personal problem and a sign they want to be kept informed.
    via ravens-n-roses
  • WholeAd2742 Literally work related communication about an urgent risk to the company Alert the management, she's lashing out because she's caught
    via WholeAd2742
  • Antique-Bat-4463 No, but if there is a group chat for work, it's their own fault for allowing a group chat for work. It should be posted. Also, move to whatsapp or something and then people can easily mute it without muting everything else. (Yes I know you can mute specific chats on iOS. and android)
    via Antique-Bat-4463
  • dontjump69 Yea dude that's someone stealing and poorly because they can't count
    via dontjump69
  • gheiminfantry You know it's not "illegal". So what's the real reason for this post? Are you this inept with dealing with unreasonable people, or just coworkers?
    via gheiminfantry
  • Questions_Remain Who doesn't silence notifications at night. 9p-8a that phone is silenced and only 2 contacts can even ring the phone. We mostly also just also hit the silence button after 6pm. Anyone who texts while we're driving, on our time or we're
    via Questions_Remain
  • relaxing gets a "this person has DND and will answer you when they are available". I haven't known a single person of friends and family in years who have audible notifications on. And the person is the one stealing, BTW.
    via Questions_Remain

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Tags

boss antiwork toxic-workplace job bosses coworkers working toxic-boss workplace bad bosses Reddit toxic-work-environment
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