Dramatic title aside, the story feels normal but definitely shouldn't be. A few months ago, my colleague, let's call him B, went to visit his wife in Ukraine. While he was out there, the war started and he was unable to leave the country.
Once they finally managed to escape to Poland, they had to apply and wait for a UK visa for his wife. It took a long time, but she's finally here.
So B returns to work and not long after, receives an email from HR saying that he's been paid for the couple of months he was stuck out of the country and he needs to pay it back. This was supposed to be, and originally was, done little by little to reduce the impact on one of their minimum wage workers who is currently supporting a recent refugee.
Now, due to him owing a multimillion pound company £3000 and many, MANY problems with our boss, he decided to leave the company to find better fortune elsewhere.
Yesterday, a week before he was due to leave, he once again receives an email from HR informing him that he wasn't going to be paid at all for the last month and he still owes them £809.
He gets this glassy look in his eyes and just walks out, saying he's not working for free for a company who doesn't respect him. Now we're down to one housekeeper, two receptionists and one maintenance guy with one temp because people keep leaving due to the shit from this new boss.
Where the hell has the compassion for other people gone?