Boss fires employee after DNA test reveals they're related

We’ve all had bad days at work, and some people will know how horrible being let go feels like, but we’ve never heard anything like this before…

A woman has shared her experience after she was fired from her job after DNA revealed that she and her boss were related.

It turns out the CEO was her secret half-brother, and the truth was only revealed after her father bought them all a DNA kit as a present.

At the time, the woman didn’t know her dad had a "secret love child".

Writing on Reddit, the woman said: “Dad's not the kind of guy to gift everyone DNA kits as a way of telling us he had a secret love child, so I don't think he knew he had another kid.

“We're all grown-ups and know where babies come from and that things aren't always what we expect, so I have a feeling this is a shock to everyone."

The woman then explained how her boss is a Texan, and her father lived in the state for a decade before he married her mother.

The results showed that her CEO’s name was listed as her “half-sibling”.

She wrote: "I've met the CEO a few times but he works out of the corporate headquarters across the country from the smaller division where I work.

"About a week after I got my results, an email went out from the head of HR stating that all staff had to take a refresher training on nepotism.

"The training also included a new clause that said something like 'staff are not entitled to privileges personal or professional if familial relation by genes or marriage to executive or management staff is known or unknown or discovered during employment'."

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

She came to learn that no other department in her company had been asked to complete the course, making her believe it was specifically aimed at her.

"My manager later pulled me in personally to ask if I had any questions about the policy," the woman went on to write. "She was vague and uncomfortable, and I said I wanted to know why nobody else was brought in 1:1 to talk about the policy and why no other branch had to do the training. She just kind of ignored the question and said she was just following instructions, so now I think this was aimed at me."

Things then took a strange turn, when she began to notice her work being deleted from the company’s drive.

She said: "Things were quiet for a week until a major project I was working on was deleted from the company drive.

"It was a coincidence that I had backed it up on a USB. Katie [my manager] was suspicious about my project getting deleted and told me to save everything to an external drive and my hardware, and sure enough, the project got deleted again.

"After that, anything I put on our work servers was getting deleted within hours, as well as any correspondence with clients or my team members.

"I started sending all my work communication and attachments to Katie and duplicating them on a USB that Katie kept locked in her office. It was like a James Bond movie. He 100 per cent tried to fire me."

At that point, she was pulled into HR about an “anonymous concern" but she was defended by her manager.

She wrote: “Katie must have known something like this was coming because she handled it and BCCd me on all her correspondence with HR and the executive team.

"[She] outlined her concerns about the CEO's and HR's behaviour regarding the DNA results and that she believed someone was remotely accessing my work computer to delete things.

"The company vice president (VP) was horrified. Up until this point, I didn't know CEBro wasn't the owner of the company.

"Katie and I had a call with the VP that day, who assured me that the owners were being made aware of the situation and that my job was not in jeopardy.

"The VP also apologized for the write-up attempt and the fact someone was obviously remotely accessing my work hardware."

However, things then took a turn when she came into work the next day and was fired on the spot.

She wrote: "The Monday after dad spoke to CEBro's mother, I was walking through the lobby when HR literally ambushed me and loudly fired me in front of a client and like twenty of my colleagues.

"Security escorted me out in front of my friends and colleagues who had no idea what was happening so that was pretty dark and humiliating."

Katie was on hand again to organise a meeting with the VP and explain the situation, but the VP decided to suspend her and the CEO pending investigation.

"I was suspended with pay, which HR vehemently protested against. The suspension lasted a week and I had planned to spend that time looking for another job but I just didn't have it in me.

"CEBro did not return after the suspension. I was offered my job back with an apology but I opted not to go back either and have been freelancing and taking some downtime because the last month has sucked.

"I did accept a generous severance package, so at least they tried to do the right thing."

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.