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Antiwork

Should I bother to report my former job?

I had a really shitty part-time job last year. I won't go into many details about it, as it isn't important for the post. Except for one thing: I think they might have broken the labour laws. Or rather – I was told this by someone I trust but I wasn't able to find that specific law. Shortly before I was fired, I got into a conflict with my superior over the salary. In this country, it's possible to sign a document which allows you to keep the entire salary without it being taxed if it's under a certain amount. It's mainly helpful for students, as they usually don't earn that much. I signed this document at this job. Next month, I received my salary – and it was taxed. My superior kept telling me for two weeks that I had never signed such document, even though I had signed…


I had a really shitty part-time job last year. I won't go into many details about it, as it isn't important for the post. Except for one thing: I think they might have broken the labour laws. Or rather – I was told this by someone I trust but I wasn't able to find that specific law.

Shortly before I was fired, I got into a conflict with my superior over the salary. In this country, it's possible to sign a document which allows you to keep the entire salary without it being taxed if it's under a certain amount. It's mainly helpful for students, as they usually don't earn that much. I signed this document at this job. Next month, I received my salary – and it was taxed. My superior kept telling me for two weeks that I had never signed such document, even though I had signed it right in front of them a month ago. They would also refuse to show it to me. This whole thing ended with them saying that they don't think I should be employed with them anymore. I was fired the next day after being trashed and accused of random shit by several superiors.

I basically had a mental breakdown at that point and needed some time to recover. This job was so promising. However, I was lucky to have the second part-time job at that time. I started focusing on it much more than before and it's paid off a lot. It's a nice place that actually cares about their employees. I didn't bother to report anything as a result.

However, I now have to contact that former employer regarding the document I need for the tax refund, and all this anxiety just started coming back. I don't know how they will react to my request, given the way we separated ways and how they have a history of lying about things. My luck is that in this case I know the exact law that makes it obligatory for them to send me that document. I plan to keep things professional.

My question is: should I bother to report them after what happened with my salary last year? After I receive the document, of course. I know some dirt on them, like them employing people unofficially (aka without the contract – which is illegal here) and them potentially endangering employees, plus the fact that they lied about me not signing the document. No idea how I would even prove these things. All my communication with my superior about the document took place online so I have a proof about that, but I only know about the unofficial employment because the coworker in question told me that (they were unsure whether they would even receive a salary). This coworker wouldn't help me, as they completely side with this job now.

Call me petty, but these superiors have hurt me a lot. Lots of bad things happened in there, not just that terrible document conflict. I really hate that I didn't pursue this any further at that time, but I know that I wasn't mentally well back then. Should I report them and potentially get them fined? Could I get into trouble if this place finds out or figures out it was me, or if the labour inspectorate wouldn't be able to find anything wrong? I have no idea how these things get investigated.

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