According to a popular saying, the reward for good work is usually more work. But for Reddit user SkittleALY, it meant getting kicked out.

After a year of diligently revamping the course of the company, she was shocked when her boss announced that he was hiring a woman from the Philippines at a fraction of her salary and started pressuring her to train her replacement.

Feeling frustrated and undervalued, SkittleALY turned to the r/antiwork community for advice on handling this uncomfortable situation in a way that would allow her to stay professional.

This woman put her mind and soul into steering her boss’s company in the right direction

Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)

But then, he decided to replace her with a low-cost remote worker

Image credits: nenetus (not the actual photo)

Image credits: skittleALY

As much as it pains to say it, legally, the boss might be within his rights to claim ownership of the woman’s work

As a general rule, an employer will own the intellectual property created by their employees in the course of their time at the company.

While each case has its nuance, partner and solicitor at Nelsons Laura Kearsley, who has a strong reputation in all aspects of employment law, says the following circumstances can be indicative of employer ownership:

• The work was created on company premises or in the employee’s usual place of business;
• The work was created during the employee’s usual contracted hours;
• The employee has a special obligation to further their employer’s interests – this is likely to apply to more senior employees;
• The employee’s job specification requires that they create work of this nature;
• Creation of the work was specifically tasked to the employee by the business;
• The work is relevant to the business e.g. a software business is unlikely to own the intellectual property in still-life drawings created by an employee;
• The work was a collaborative effort between multiple employees; and
• Company-owned resources were used to create the work.

“For a number of intellectual property rights, provided that the work (whether that be code, product design, invention or otherwise) was created by the employee in the course of their employment/execution of their duties, the employer will own the intellectual property in question (or be entitled to be registered as the proprietor of that work),” Kearsley explains.

Therefore, unless there is an explicit agreement to the contrary, it sounds like SkittleALY’s boss might actually own the fruits of her labor. Even though his move could be described as morally corrupt, legally speaking, he may have the upper hand.

Now will it translate into a thriving future for his company depends on him and the Redditor’s replacement.

As her story went viral, the woman joined the discussion in the comments

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