Workplace culture loves to praise work-life balance, right up until someone actually practices it. Setting boundaries around after-hours emails sounds reasonable on paper, but in many workplaces, it’s treated like a quiet act of rebellion. When one employee stopped responding to work messages after 5 p.m., her manager didn’t call it healthy boundaries.
He called it a problem.
Her letter to Bright Side:
Dear Bright Side,
My boss emailed the team on Tuesday night with “urgent” tasks. Everyone responded fast. I ignored it.
Next day, he said, “Urgent task means urgent reply!” I smiled: “I don’t work after 5.” He left angrily. Later, the whole office froze as they watched me get called into HR.
But turns out HR wasn’t on his side at all. Someone had been documenting everything.
Not just my situation, but a pattern of after-hours demands across multiple departments. And apparently, there’s this little thing called “off-the-clock work” that the company’s lawyers really don’t want to deal with. My boss had been creating a liability, and I’d accidentally become the example case.
Your the type of person that would expect the company to bend over backwards for you if you needed some time off because one of your kids or wife fell gravely I’ll and you ran out of sick days or PTO if I was them I would laugh in your face and then fire your sorry ass and tell you why because your not here until 5 like your suppose to be
Now he won’t even make eye contact with me, half the team is suddenly “unavailable” after 5 PM too, and I’m sitting here wondering if I just dodged a bullet or painted a target on my back for something else down the line.
Did I do the right thing? What would you do in this situation?
— Kate
Thank you, Kate. Honestly, your situation is wild but also way too relatable.
So many people deal with this exact pressure but never speak up about it. You put into words what a lot of us are thinking. We hope these comments help you decide whether you’re in the clear or should start updating your resume.
No you are absolutely in the right
I believe Parliament discussed this once in the past and no one can get fired for refusing requests after their scheduled working contract it would be classed as UnFair Dismissal
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
Tap READ MORE to discover the rest 🔎👇
