It’s understandable for a boss to be concerned about the schedules of their workers during work hours, but anything outside of that is excessive, if not disturbing. That said, a sales employee for a firm in Alabama reached the top of his field, acquiring the most accounts on his team and consistently winning awards for his work. Obsessed with his performance, his boss started requiring that he send a text whenever he leaves for work and again when he gets back home. The question on everyone’s mind for this one is undoubtedly: Is this even legal?
“This seems utterly insane and a huge overstep, and I feel like HR would spit their coffee if they were told,” the wife of the Alabama sales employee complained in a post on Reddit. On top of him being a superstar performer at work, what makes this all the more confusing is that her husband doesn’t work specific hours and is paid 100% off commission. So, being forced to tell the boss when he’s leaving and arriving back home is just downright weird and creepy.
The wife believes the boss is trying to make her husband quit, so he’s already started looking around for a new job. The top comment makes a solid yet unfortunate point about the situation. “On its face, [the] request is not illegal, and your husband can be terminated for not complying.” It continues, saying that her husband can also be fired if his boss simply doesn’t like him or has an issue with the time stamps on the texts.
A big reason why the Alabama boss might want to get rid of his top salesperson is that he’s ‘making too much money.’ Since everything he earns is via commission, it would somewhat make sense that the employer would want to cut costs and spread out lower payments among more workers rather than giving the lion’s share to a single employee. Several hundred Redditors agreed with this idea, with some even saying that they or someone they know experienced the same unfortunate result at their job.
While the husband still doesn’t know the reason, the wife confirmed that he is the only one on his team who has been forced to do the ‘texting ritual’ with the boss. Another odd detail is that it was his boss’s boss who ordered this requirement to begin, not his immediate manager. Whatever the case, hopefully, the employee will be able to get out of this bizarre condition or find better employment. He is a top performer, after all, so repeating the same results elsewhere should be doable.
