Everyone knows what it’s like to work under a boss who’s paid significantly more than they are.
While workplace decorum might dictate that these discrepancies shouldn’t be mentioned, sometimes the frustration boils over.
One Redditor shared his story of the consequences he faced after bringing attention to a CEO’s big raise.
“Just got forcibly removed from my own workplace at Wake Forest Medical for attempting to disseminate 2,000 of my homemade flyers.”
This is how the post in r/antiwork begins, and OP certainly brings the receipts. The flyers he was trying to distribute showed that while techs got a 2% raise during the pandemic, the CEO received a 24% pay hike.
You can see the flyer above. The top part shows the letter from the bosses telling techs how valued they are, while the bottom portion explains the CEO pay bumps.
Security guards promptly showed up.
In a series of photos attached to the post, you can see what happened when the top brass became aware of the flyers. Here, the first security guard to respond can be seen reading one of the flyers.
They took OP off the premises.
This pic from the backseat shows security guards taking OP away from the premises.
However, OP said it was done with some reluctance on their part. “Frankly they were still nice and agreed with me. They had their supervisor be the one to come tell me I had to go. They agreed with me but still had to take me away.
Removed from his own workplace.
Little context is given outside of the photos, so it’s hard to know what happened next. However, OP did confirm that he still has his job, as far as he knows.
“My grandfather was a lawyer and I stayed in my legal rights and didn’t use my own words, so I still have my job actually!” he wrote . “They just took me away to stop me disseminating.”
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It’s just one more reminder of the pay gap.
It stands to reason that different employee tiers will receive different compensation. But for a hardworking employee, it’s tough to stomach that their meagre salary will increase by just 2% while their boss gets a 24% bump to their already generous salary.
This kind of agitating is legal.
While the company is within its rights to remove flyers distributed on its property, it’s also the employee’s right to publicize this kind of stuff.
“People are too often cowed by fear of legal retaliation, but obviously you’re not,” wrote one Redditor. “Seriously, thank you.”
Colleagues shared OP’s frustration.
“I work at the same facility,” wrote one. “It’s [BS]. My department wasn’t given merit raises this year because they wanted to ‘give us time back’ and not have to meet with management for a yearly review.”
Should workers be treated this way?
It’s one thing for the employer to stop the flyers from being distributed, but sending security to escort an employee — a valued employee, according to the workplace’s own literature — is kind of insulting.
Let us know what you think of this story, and how you’ve handled workplace pay disparities, in the comments section.
