SINGAPORE: A Singaporean worker felt completely betrayed after discovering that her ex-manager had lied to their CEO just to get her fired.
Taking to Reddit’s ‘Ask Singapore’ forum, the worker shared she had only been in her previous company—an SME—for less than a year when she got dismissed “without any proper reason.”
When she tried to discuss the possibility of staying with the company and asked for a clear reason behind her termination, her ex-manager simply responded that she was “not the right fit for the company.”
The woman expressed her confusion at this point, as the supposed reason for her termination didn’t align with her colleagues’ feedback.
“The feedback from 360 anonymous colleagues’ feedback [about me] was good and nothing alarming,” she wrote.
It wasn’t until later that she finally found out the real reason. Some of her ex-colleagues recently met with the CEO, and during their conversation, the CEO seemed surprised that they were still in touch with her.
It turned out that her ex-manager had told the CEO she was constantly in conflict with her colleagues, had trouble working with the team, and was causing disruptions in the workplace.
“This propelled him to terminate me,” she said. “It came as a shock because what my manager said was false, and I was close to the team even after leaving the company. My ex-colleagues stood up for me and cleared the air with the CEO but I can’t help but feel wronged by my manager. Is this office slander?”
She then sought advice from other forum members on how to handle office slander and what to do when those in positions of authority treat employees unfairly.
In an edit to her post, the woman shared that she would like to rejoin the company in the future if given the opportunity, now that the manager responsible for her dismissal was no longer there.
“We have no idea who is actually lying: it could be the CEO or the manager.”
Most of the Singaporean forum members who participated in the discussion agreed that the worker should put the experience behind her and focus on finding a better company that values its employees. Some also suggested she leave an honest Glassdoor review to warn others about the company’s workplace culture.
One individual said, “Been through the same thing as you. SME too. Left a glassdoor review and wondering what else I can do. Unfortunately I did not play the rules of office politics well as for my case, they all belonged to a certain dialect group and thus I was the odd one out.”
Another commented, “Don’t waste your time on SME. Just move on and what goes round comes round eventually.”
A third added, “Not worth the effort but damn. I hate this kind of people breaking other people’s rice bowls for no reason.”
Meanwhile, others gave the manager the benefit of the doubt, saying that there’s a possibility that the CEO could have fabricated the story about her termination.
One individual remarked, “We have no idea who is actually lying: it could be the CEO or the manager.”
A few took it a step further, arguing that the real issue lay with the CEO’s leadership. One wrote, “The fact that your CEO just terminated you based on your manager’s words alone without even verifying with you or your team members also shows that your CEO sucks, right? Why would you want to go back and work for such [a] person?”
Another pointed out, “If the CEO is not wise enough to see the ruse, he’s probably not wise enough to be CEO.”
Wrongful dismissal: What can workers do?
For workers who believe they have been unfairly dismissed, there are official channels to seek justice. According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), workers can file a claim with the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) within one month of their last working day.
If the dispute remains unresolved, the case may be escalated to the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT). Should the ECT rule in favour of the worker, the employer could be required to either reinstate them in their previous role with back pay or provide financial compensation for the wrongful termination.
Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)