Fury as Boss Tries to Force Worker of 20 Years to Write Resignation-'Duped'

Internet users have urged a woman not to sign a resignation letter after her boss of 20 years told her it would help her get unemployment while he replaced her with a younger man.

In a post shared on Reddit earlier in March, under the username u/starberrico, one of her coworkers explained that after two decades of being "wonderful" at her job, their boss suddenly asked the woman to take another role she wasn't comfortable with. He told her she had no other choice but to leave.

According to statistics by Zippia, firing an employee who will be replaced comes at a price. This is on average between 16.1 and 20.4 percent of their annual salary, rising as high as 213 percent for senior executives.

The poster wrote: "She agrees to leave. The boss says she has to train someone to fill her position before she leaves. She agrees to leave after two weeks of training. Now the boss is trying to force her to write a letter of resignation before she leaves.

"She feels like her boss is trying to do that so that she can't file for unemployment but the boss reassures her that actually, the letter of resignation will help her to apply for unemployment..... is she being duped??"

New York-based employment attorney Andrew Lieb, of Lieb at Law, told Newsweek: "This situation smells of age discrimination, and possibly sex discrimination, which is a violation of federal law, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), if the woman who is being fired, in this scenario, is 40 years of age or older. State anti-discrimination laws and human rights laws generally only require the victim to be 18 or older for anti-discrimination protections to apply.

"Moreover, no one who is fired signs a resignation letter, ever. Instead, they sign a severance agreement with a waiver of claims," said Lieb. "So, this entire situation is very suspicious. Regardless, it's imperative that the woman doesn't sign anything before it's reviewed by her lawyer.

"Plus, the woman should calendar her 180-day deadline to file a charge (condition precedent to suit) with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This expands to a 300-day deadline if the woman's state has a comparable anti-discrimination law."

The post, originally published on the r/antiwork subreddit, quickly gained popularity across the platform. It has so far received over 10,000 upvotes and 1,000 comments.

BonesJustice commented: "Yes, she is 100% being duped. She needs to state unequivocally in writing that she is not resigning. If they want her gone, force them to fire her."

Senior-Sharpie added: "And give her a package! The company is obviously trying to avoid all liability that wrongful termination involves."

To_the_lost11 posted: "Yes. Have her tell her employer to send her an email outlining what the letter should say and how it will help her get unemployment. Employer probably won't do it, but if they do, then she should call an employment attorney and get ready for some sweet, sweet settlement money on top of her unemployment."

Redd_October wrote: "They are Absolutely trying to dupe her here. If she gives them a letter of resignation, her unemployment claim will be denied and they'll say, with proof, that she left voluntarily."

Bwiy75 commented: "They want to get rid of her and get someone younger and cheaper, and they don't want to pay unemployment, so yes, they are absolutely trying to screw her over and make sure she doesn't get unemployment."

MatterInitial8563 added: "That resignation letter will 100000000% D E N Y her the unemployment! DONT DO IT."

Newsweek reached out to u/starberrico for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.