A Reddit post in r/bell claims that Bell has been firing employees “with cause” for not returning to the office three days a week, allegedly with no severance and no prior warning.
One commenter, who says they were terminated, argues that this is unfair because they were working from their designated office two days a week plus another Bell office on a third day most weeks. They also claim they worked more than the standard 37.5 hours per week and had strong performance reviews.
Their main argument is that, while companies can set return-to-office rules, terminating someone “with cause” should normally require progressive discipline first, such as a verbal warning, written warning, suspension, and then termination, unless the behavior qualifies as severe misconduct. They argue that simply not being in the designated office three days a week, or “coffee badging,” should not automatically count as severe misconduct unless the employee is also failing to work their required hours, which could be considered time theft.
Overall, the discussion is about whether companies are using RTO enforcement as a way to terminate employees without severance, and whether missing office-day requirements should legally or ethically justify a “for cause” dismissal.