Company threw a surprise party for the CEO, 3 weeks later management says we have to pay for it, do I have to?

Question

Title says it all. We were not informed beforehand, not even about the party itself and now, 3 weeks later our manager says we have to pitch in with a little more than 5$. I am not upset because it's too much but because the lack of communication and I think it's generally a scummy and unprofessional move even outside of the workplace. I don't know the CEO himself, we shake hands on company parties but that's it. Should I grind my teeth and pay or stand up for myself and my beliefs and not pay?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. — Neo, May 10 '19 at 11:53

score 75 · Accepted Answer · edited May 10 '19 at 02:42

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The situation is complicated. This is certainly something unprofessional that happened here. There can be unforeseen problems that needs to be handled, but communication is the key. No one should expect support from others in a workplace without providing a context first.

You mentioned your manager asked all of you to contribute towards the party fund out of the blue and without any prior communication regarding the "why" part.

Given that this is something that is happening for the first time, you should reach out to him and casually enquire about it in more details, something like:

Hey boss, I thought that was a company sponsored party and I did not receive any info about the contribution earlier. Was is supposed to be this way or is there something I'm missing?

If they acknowledge there is a problem, provide some details about what caused the problem and requests to contribute to cover up for this time, that can be seen as a genuine case of mistake and unintentional communication gap.

However, if you do not receive a response that explains the matters, I'd say do two things:

Pay the amount (Avoid the clash now ¹)
Polish up your resume and start looking for another job. (Avoid future clashes, too)

Here, someone did not do their job well (make proper arrangements for the event), and when failed to achieve the goal (get the amount settled), they passed on the responsibility (have the amount collected) to someone else, without even feeling the need to communicate about the problem, in first place. Clear sign of poor management, communication skills/ policies and decision-making, you don't want to work for a management/ superior like that.

Rewards and gifts (yes, throwing a party for "someone" is a gift, let alone asking for the employees to pay for it) should flow down the hierarchy, not upwards.

[1]: Remember, I'm not saying to put up with the behavior, but IRL, it makes little sense to create a squabble with a clearly nonsensical superior / management for a one time payment of $5.

edited May 10 '19 at 02:42

brhans

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answered May 09 '19 at 08:59

Sourav Ghosh

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I think is a bit of an over-reaction to start looking for a new job, the OP has cited no pattern of mis-behaviour by management, and if this is the only issue in years and the OP is happy point to is overkill. – Naz May 09 '19 at 10:02
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@Naz I'm not saying to quit now, that's why I'm suggesting to pay now, to settle matters for now and start looking, find a better opportunity and move on. Also, We don't know whether there are other incidents or not. we can;t guarantee there would not be. – Sourav Ghosh May 09 '19 at 10:06
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I'm not saying you said quit now, but the whole idea to recommend looking for a new job over potentially one incident is overkill, otherwise every answer to every confrontational question would be to look for another job. – Naz May 09 '19 at 10:10
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Given the attitude shown in this case by management what else are they about to F**k up? plus 1... – Solar Mike May 09 '19 at 10:11
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@Naz It can be only one incident, but it portrays a clear picture of the management stance. In case of tricky situations, which is this one, it performed poorly, and given any future critical / crisis situation, what stops this from being repeated? How long shall we wait to establish a pattern? Life is too short my friend. :) – Sourav Ghosh May 09 '19 at 10:33
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@Naz it's not so much the incident as much as it is the attitude that management has towards leadership that is the big red flag. The incident is just exposure of said attitude. – 520 says Reinstate Monica May 09 '19 at 10:34
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@Sourav Ghosh If it's one incident how on earth does it portray a clear picture? and are you saying this type of "bad leadership" is rare and will only ever happen to the OP in this company. If you left a company every time management did something stupid, would you ever be in a job more than 20 minutes. Life is to short to sweat the small stuff like $5. – Naz May 09 '19 at 10:44
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@Naz There are categories of bad leadership. However, here the attempt is to throw someone else under the bus. Not all the aspects are same and can be treated equally. Sure - deciding not to buy a coffee machine for the common area is also a bad move from a leadership but not of the same degree. – Sourav Ghosh May 09 '19 at 11:07
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@SouravGhosh Nah mate it's just $5. – Naz May 09 '19 at 11:18
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@Naz Well, I'm saying I'll gladly give that 5$, and be happy about it, if (1) someone communicates about the problem (2) acknowledge that there is a goof up happened and (3) requests to contribute to cover up for this time and at least make a statement about being careful next time. But out of blue, a directive to pay - I will not be very happy. – Sourav Ghosh May 09 '19 at 11:28
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IMHO, while the company's behaviour is unprofessional here, so is this suggestion. Before you start quitting, you should at least talk about the offense committed (by the company against you), so the company has a chance of changing their behaviour – user1781290 May 09 '19 at 12:00
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@user1781290 OK, Given that many of you feel that this answer is unprofessional - I'm going to change the approach a bit. As suggested, I'll add the suggestion to talk to the manager first. – Sourav Ghosh May 09 '19 at 12:25
@SouravGhosh That sounds a lot more professional. Have my upvote :) – user1781290 May 09 '19 at 12:36
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@Naz Here at Workplace.SO every answer to confrontation is to look for a new job... – Moyli May 09 '19 at 15:26
Someone did not did his job or someone is pocketing some money. – Rui F Ribeiro May 09 '19 at 19:33
This isn't complicated at all. There is no offense that needs to be discussed. In fact, there's no reason to have any discussion aside from being surprised that it was more expensive than originally estimated. Just pay the extra and be done with it. Yes, even if it was communicated poorly. – May 09 '19 at 19:52
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@TomGallo there's no "extra". It's just suddenly moved from "this is a party" to "this is a party you need to pay for". – Erik May 10 '19 at 05:22
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@TomGallo Yeah, and next, be ready to cancel your approved leave because someone forgot to tell you they had a deadline. – Sourav Ghosh May 10 '19 at 05:27
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I am not sure why this is the accepted answer considering I think the best solution here is to not overreact by looking for another job or getting into squabbles over office politics. Rather use some soft skills and social etiquette. Essentially, do not pay (or directly mention it ever) and anytime someone brings it up just say that you forgot and/or that your house/car/wife/kids/niece/nephew/parents/aunt/uncle/best friend/neighbor/children's school/church/volunteer organization/etc. had some unexpected expense come up that you had to cover, therefore, you are tight on money at the moment. – G.T.D. May 10 '19 at 05:39
@B1313 Well, the problem is actually bigger than a ask for $5, it's about the attempted cover up of a problem, without a proper communication. Sure, some people chose to look at the other way for problems, but some choose to have their surroundings friendly and communicative and open. YMMV. – Sourav Ghosh May 10 '19 at 05:42
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@SouravGhosh I am just not seeing it outside the scale of $5. If someone was trying to cover up something, then they are being awfully public about it by asking everyone to contribute $5. I think some social tact is a wise strategy here and avoiding the battle altogether. After all, if someone says his/her kids need braces, the muffler went on the family car, or his/her child is heading off to college this fall, it would be a hard climb, socially, to guilt trip them into contributing the money and not looking vicious publicly. – G.T.D. May 10 '19 at 05:53
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@B1313 So the best solution, in your view, is to dodge the payment and lie about it? That seems an extremely unwise approach very likely to get you into actual trouble. – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 10 '19 at 08:39
@Naz It's "only" £$5 that could easily be paid by the company or CEO themselves. This is penny-pinching nonsense and the OP is perfectly valid to get out now. – The Forest And The Trees May 10 '19 at 08:47
@TheForestAndTheTrees Not over $5 mate. – Naz May 10 '19 at 09:01
What if you'd say that you are very sorry but you are really trying to make ends meet and just spent that last $5 on food, birthday presents for your kid, need to reserve it for travel expenses or something else that's really important? Tough manager if he wants to push through for $5 in that circumstances. – Martien de Jong May 10 '19 at 09:10
Did you even talk to your colleagues about this ? I would be surprised if they were all agreeing with this. If they "give" you something you neither knew about or asked for it, and then ask the money, it's called extortion – GlorfSf May 10 '19 at 10:07
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@SouravGhosh No, the problem isn't "bigger than $5". You're inflating OP's situation into something that is pure speculation. As far as anyone knows, based on OP's comments, there is no reason to think there is a pattern of bad communication. – May 10 '19 at 10:23

score 68 · Answer 2 · answered May 09 '19 at 08:57

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The lack of prior communication may be because the organizers assumed the company would pay, but did not actually have the right authorizations and budget. After the party, when they found out they were not going to be reimbursed, the organizers started a campaign to get everyone to chip in.

You don't need to begin with a position on whether you are going to pay or not. You can start by asking your manager what is going on, and decide based on the response.

answered May 09 '19 at 08:57

Patricia Shanahan

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Or they might have had management authorization but then their lawyer noticed that a partially publicly funded company isn't allowed to hold free work events. – knallfrosch May 09 '19 at 11:38
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Aren't they? Doesn't the company have autonomy to decide what is the best for the company? – lvella May 09 '19 at 13:26
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@Ivella The problem is that a surprise party for the CEO is not a valid business expense. So if the company paid for the party, the cost of the party would count as income for the CEO which he would then have pay taxes on. – MTilsted May 09 '19 at 13:31
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@MTilsted, I don’t know what country you’re talking about, but I can’t imagine the cost of a party counting as income for one attendee. – prl May 09 '19 at 14:54
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That's the reality at least for some European countries, Poland to name one. If you get anything extra (be it a party, surprise or not), a birthday gift or anything else like that, paid by the company it is considered your benefit and thus - the value is added to your annual income effecting in the recipient being liable of tax. If company wanted to be on a safe side and not cause additional cost, they would have to add some extra money that will cover the tax for the event value itself and the additional money. I haven't heard of such approach in the companies but it is used for lotteries – Ister May 09 '19 at 14:59
The question says the company organized the party. – DJClayworth May 09 '19 at 15:17
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@DJClayworth Anything a company does is really done by some individuals within that company, acting on its behalf. "The company organized the party" means the people organizing it presented it as a company function, and probably believed it was a legitimate company function. It did not have approval at the highest level, because it was a surprise party for the CEO. – Patricia Shanahan May 09 '19 at 16:17
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@Ister If a company organizes a social event with invitation of a large number of employees (as it seems to be the case here, the OP writes I don't know the CEO, we only shake hands at company parties), it hardly comes as a personal income (or expense, depending on your point of view) of the CEO. It's nothing more than providing free coffee at the office, or free pizza at a full-day company business meeting. And if it still cannot be considered the company's expense in Poland, than the Polish tax code is really screwed up. – yo' May 09 '19 at 16:56
@MTilsted: That argument is absurd even if true. If OP actually got his own lawyer involved the lawyer would have no trouble arguing "too late". – Joshua May 09 '19 at 17:05
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I suspect somebody either ordered or brought alcohol. That's a big one which changes allowable meals or events into unallowable ones. I've seen people fired over that. – user71659 May 09 '19 at 17:38
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I would be surprised if the OP is legally obligated to contribute. On the other hand, if one or more of the OP's colleagues made a mistake in good faith, and without contributions would be stuck with the full cost, the OP might choose to contribute. That is why I recommend asking about the situation before deciding what to do. – Patricia Shanahan May 09 '19 at 18:19
Whoever decided to ask around probably gets enough money from the company that he/she won't really miss the money collected here. So why are they collecting it from their underlings? – Martin Schröder May 09 '19 at 18:57
@lvella no, if it is a company that is fully or partially funded by taxpayers money, they are not allowed to organise parties for their employees on company money, at least here. Workers have to chip in, for whatever it is in - CEO birthday, Christmas, or whatever. – Gnudiff May 10 '19 at 03:58

score 18 · Answer 3 · answered May 09 '19 at 14:44

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Say no, politely and firmly. They're not likely to fire you over $5, and if they do you can consider that a good thing. You don't actually owe this money, and if you pay you've taught them that they can abuse you and you'll take it. It might be a small thing now, but the next time it will be a little bigger, and the next time a little bigger still, ad infinitum.

answered May 09 '19 at 14:44

Matthew Read

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Depending on the jurisdiction, it may even be illegal to fire someone for refusing to pay the $5. (Of course, they can officially fire the OP for some other reason.) – Monty Harder May 09 '19 at 19:35

score 17 · Answer 4 · answered May 09 '19 at 16:20

Putting aside the legal and ethical problems, charging underlings, weeks later, for a party for a superior that, most likely, none of them wanted to throw or attend is just plain rude. It would be the same as asking guests at a wedding to pay for the wedding, after the wedding, and after gifts have been collected.

A well-mannered person does not respond to rudeness with rudeness, so the best response is: "I respectfully decline to contribute." This response says two things: you won't pay, and there is no obligation to pay.

That someone else at the C-level didn't open their wallet for this is baffling, and passing it on to the lower ranks is a terrible omen of things to come. Freshen your resume and keep one eye on the exit.

score 11 · Answer 5 · answered May 09 '19 at 18:39

Was the company wrong? Yes. Is it worth the hassle? No.

Pick your battles. Most people have anyway more than enough battles to fight in their lives, that they don't have time or energy to fight each and every one of them. So, pick what matters.

Does $5 matter? Yes, you're in the right. Being in the right is not the same as getting good consequences out of the situation.

If you make every $5 into an issue that the management needs to handle, or to admit that they were in the wrong... one day there will be a serious issue, but by then they will be sick and tired of you, and they'll not listen. (You might be in the right in that issue, the actually significant one, as well... and it won't matter).

It's like a marriage. Pick your battles carefully. I'm not saying that you shouldn't fight for what you believe in... but only when it's significant enough to matter.

And if they keep doing stuff like that, and at some point you can't take it any longer, the only realistic reaction is to find another job, and give them your two weeks notice, with zero drama about it.

Solid advice. There are many things worth spending workplace capital on and this isn't one of them. — , May 09 '19 at 19:39
Saving $5 now, could cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars of future raises. — さりげない告白, May 10 '19 at 01:15

score 9 · Answer 6 · edited May 09 '19 at 18:06

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I think this greatly depends on your relationship with management and their style of leadership.

In a good working relationship, just ask them.

maybe they were as surprised as you when the Accounting people rejected their reimbursement request.

If the relationship is colder and more predatory I'd grit my teeth and pay up, $5 is not worth a clash with a psychotic manager.

But yeah it is a jerk move and for me a signal to maybe message some of my former recruiters.

edited May 09 '19 at 18:06

bob

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answered May 09 '19 at 08:51

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"maybe they were as surprised as you when the Accounting people rejected their reimbursement request." This is exactly what I thought. The probably never had the intention to ask staff for contributions, but something went wrong after the fact and now this is the best way out. Somebody certainly f*cked up here, but raising a big fuss over a single incident worth $5 isn't worth the breath for a salaried employee. – xLeitix May 09 '19 at 13:54

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered May 09 '19 at 12:54

What's always best in these circumstances is to gather similar complaints. If just you are complaining, no matter how justified you are, you look like a bit of a jackass and troublemaker, especially when your boss clearly didn't see a big issue with asking for this money.

If you come up to them with your $5 and say 'Hey, I and [My co-workers/the rest of the Apps team/Tom, Steve and Lisa]* are a little put out over being told we need to pay for this after-the-fact, we'd really appreciate if this kind of thing was handled differently next time. Anyways, no hard feelings, here's my share." you look mature, and like you're airing a grievance that most people have rather than just complaining for your own sake.

Now... If you're the only one who is bothered, then decide for yourself if you wanna be the loose nail that gets the hammer.

*: Use your best judgement and/or ask people if they want their names shared with the grievance.

People here always seems to forget the basic concept behind unions. I'm surprised to see that you're the only one thinking about taking a collective action. — GlorfSf, May 10 '19 at 09:59
Plus, this solution carries legal protections - it's collective bargaining about work conditions, as soon as you make it about 'employees' and not 'you'. — Monica Apologists Get Out, May 10 '19 at 12:38

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 09 '19 at 14:58

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Pay the five, it aint worth your job. What you gonna tell the next job, that you lost your job over five bucks?

answered May 09 '19 at 14:58

Tina_Sea

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Seems simple enough: "my previous company's management was petty enough to fire me when I refused to pay them 5 dollars they weren't entitled to" – Bwmat May 09 '19 at 15:45
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@Bwmat good luck with that – Tina_Sea May 09 '19 at 17:16

Michael Durrant · Answer 9 · 2019-05-10T13:07:25.050

Leave the ego behind - that is what is troubled by this. (An ego is good and essential for everyone however too much is bad).

Determine how much you are paid. Lets say $10 an hour. How much time did you spend posting the question and working the answers? An hour perhaps?

Getting tied up in 'rights and wrongs' of such a small matter and going to principles and extrapolating one event to a point where you might need to get a new job are all potential futures. As are many other possibilities. However I would urge you to keep the size of the incident in mind and note that you have not said that this is a recurring pattern of actions

At this point your ego is going to also be offended by me saying this. Ah humans are complicated. So let me move on to the advice - I genuinely wish to help you:

The only thing that you cannot get back and that is limited in quantity and you cannot buy is the time in your life. The older you get the more you accept this and start to let go over what are ultimately trivial items that it's not worth worrying over.

Focus on the reality that $5 is 30 minutes of your $10 wage and let it go and use YOUR time better. File it away as a small signal of bad stuff but wait until you have several more before spending time thinking much about it.

Use that hour educating and training yourself for a better job that might pay say $10,000 more. Focus on the bigger goals in life is my advice and wish I had it 20 years ago.

Yes. Without any other data, this looks like someone underestimated what everyone needed to pay and discovered it later. OP doesn't mention that this is common in their workplace. There is absolutely no reason to make an issue of it.
I like how you put that $5 in that context, btw. — , May 09 '19 at 21:14
A quick google seatch shows US minimum wages as $7.25 so that $5 might be the better part of OPs hourly wage, and the face this puts the onus on staff to pay for a surprise party organised by management isn't a good look, sets a bad precedence. It's not necessarily trivial — RappaportXXX, May 10 '19 at 09:15
Good point @RappaportXXX I am guessing that the crowd around the CEO are probably not on minimum wage. they are probably closer to the $50 than $10. However there may be interns and new to workforce folks and it is a good point and so I updated my answer to show $10 an hour. — Michael Durrant, May 10 '19 at 09:34

Sinc · Answer 10 · 2019-05-09T18:10:17.007

There is a conflict of interest here. When "the company" throws a party someone has to authorize the expense. If the party was for you (maybe after a promotion or customer recognition or such) it might be your manager or manager's manager that authorizes the expense. When it's for the CEO there is no one above to sign off, and the CEO is signing for his own party. That's a conflict of interest. Imagine if he started to throw himself a party every week. That's clearly unacceptable, so the line is usually drawn at the beginning. If there is a good reason to throw the CEO a party the authorization has to come from the board of directors. Since this party was thrown by "the company" the CEO may have recognized the conflict of interest and blocked the expense.

Better communication of this fact would have been very beneficial.

It's $5. Be happy for the boss that something nice happened, and assume that those that organized the event have learned their lesson.

Edit: I re-read the question. OP says that he didn't even know about the party at the time. That means that he wasn't invited. In that case when the party was correctly disapproved, presumably by the CEO, the cost should have been requested to be recovered only amongst the attendees/invitees. However, that ship has sailed, he IS your CEO, so I still say put in the $5. The lesson was probably still learned.

I think you need to re-read the question yet again. OP says he wasn't informed in advance about the party. I read it as saying that OP attended the party. — Peter Taylor, May 10 '19 at 10:24
@PeterTaylor "We were not informed beforehand, not even about the party itself" sounds to me like "we weren't informed about the party beforehand" so now "we are being asked to pay for a party we didn't even know about let alone attend". But the details of who knew what when aren't important. The point of my answer is that somebody has to pay for the party because the CEO can't sign off on his own party without board approval. That's the cause of the problem. How it's being handled is a mess, but the cause is pretty clear. — Sinc, May 10 '19 at 13:10

score -1 · Answer 11 · edited May 10 '19 at 15:08

-1

The answer to this question is going to have to be found through personal search.

How badly do you need this job?

Do you have family to take care off? Debt to pay off? High bills? No savings?

If you can afford to do so, then speak up

If you're in a stable financial position (not related to the $5, but in case speaking up doesn't go well) where a job change wouldn't affect you (i.e. fired or feel pressured to resign), you should at least query why you are being asked to pay for this, as you can't recall any communication regarding payment before the party happened. It's possible you might have missed communications regarding this prior to the party. If this isn't the case then politely decline to contribute as you had not been informed prior to the event that there would be a fee to pay.

You can look into the whistle-blowing policy in your company as well; being required to pay for something like this could actually be illegal in your country/state (it is in the UK).

Otherwise say nothing and pay the $5

If you need the job and if job hunting, interviewing and changing jobs is not an option, then "swallow the frog" and pay up. As unsavory as it is, sometimes we have to do things we don't like.

edited May 10 '19 at 15:08

bob

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answered May 09 '19 at 08:57

fireshark519

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He's talking about $5. The "stability of the financial situation" really doesn't matter here – Hilmar May 09 '19 at 12:22
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@Hilmar I don't mean the stability to pay $5, the stability to stand up for himself and risk having to move jobs (due to bad environment after the confrontation) – fireshark519 May 09 '19 at 12:42
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Immediately jumping to the OP being unemployed based on his decision seems a bit harsh. There are so many ways this could be talked through. If you consider every confrontation to be a possible way to get fired, you'll never get a decent relationship with your employer. – Reaces May 09 '19 at 14:14
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Not a bad answer but could use some cleanup to make it easier to follow. I'm guessing that might be why it's been downvoted while very similar answers have been upvoted. – bob May 09 '19 at 18:09
@Reaces not necessarily meaning he will be fired, it is obviously still a possibility. It is more about the work environment factor. If you stand up for yourself and you are now viewed as confrontational because of it, it might alter the way people interact with you and therefore be better for yourself to change jobs...not jumping straight into being fired... – fireshark519 May 10 '19 at 09:19
@bob tried brushing it up... – fireshark519 May 10 '19 at 09:23
@fireshark519 Thanks. I made a few more edits for clarity; feel free to review and accept/reject any or all of them. Question: is the comment on whistleblowing policy related to the illegality of being asked to pay, or would it be in relation to retaliation for saying "no"? – bob May 10 '19 at 15:09
@bob legality of being asked to pay. I have worked somewhere where the boss would require a payment for 1 pound/minute you were late. Everyone was happy to pay up when it happened but we all knew it was illegal. You can't require payment from an employee and can't deduct their wages either without prior agreement – fireshark519 May 13 '19 at 08:02
Okay that makes sense. Might be worth clarifying in the answer, as the connection to whistleblowing wasn't clear to me. – bob May 13 '19 at 12:58

score -2 · Answer 12 · answered May 10 '19 at 02:09

You don't say, but this answer is assuming you are in the US. The chief question here is

How willing are you to be fired over this?

If your answer is

Not at all. Then pay the $5.
A little bit. Email the CEO and ask why you are being asked to chip in and not the person or persons who organized the party.
Somewhat. Email HR and complain.
Don't care if you're fired. Call the state department of labor and ask if you are required to pay something like this.
Already have another job offer that you are accepting. Just say no.

The truth is that even if you can't be fired specifically for this, you can still be fired. If you're that person, the one who complains, then they can wait until you give them some justification and fire you. Unless you are perfect, they will eventually find that justification if they are patient. So anything other than quietly paying the $5 can get you fired.

Emailing the CEO is probably the next least risky. Because what it sounds like to me is that the CEO thought that the party was too expensive to be a business expense. If that's the CEO's position, the CEO might well agree that it shouldn't be an involuntary attendee expense either. The person or persons who actually organized the party should pay. Or they can quit. But it's also possible that the CEO has a different perspective. Perhaps those people are critical employees whereas you are potentially expendable.

HR is a bit riskier. That makes it official. And the official method can be getting rid of the nail that sticks out by hammering it down. Or by oiling the squeaky wheel. But are you willing to risk the hammer treatment in hopes of getting the oil? Further, this can annoy your manager who will have to make other keep or not decisions in the future.

Getting the government involved means that it is possible that the company goes out of business. Or they stay in business but retaliate against you. Or just lay you off because they had to downsize to handle the government complaint.

Saying no is confrontational. You could be fired over it directly (even if you might be able to then appeal the firing). So don't do this unless you want to be fired.

If you decide to pay the $5, you could still ask your manager how this happened and what they are doing to see that it doesn't happen again. But if your manager blows off your question, you're still paying so you might as well let it go at that point.

I would worry that emailing the CEO to ask if you have to pay for the CEO's party is a dangerous move; it might make you persona non grata to the CEO, and could constitute a very severe form of "going over your boss' head". I would not do this--better to just quit if you're considering this. I'd probably put contacting HR as a close second. I don't think that will look good to contact HR over $5. I strongly think being asked to pay is not cool even though it's $5, but I think escalating this in any way above your direct boss is very dangerous career-wise. — bob, May 10 '19 at 15:24
Note: if you do move jobs over the $5, I would not state that as the reason; better to talk generically about goodness of fit. Quitting over $5 would come off as a major red flag in a hiring situation. — bob, May 10 '19 at 15:25
In order of least risk to greatest I'd put it as: (1) pay the money; (2) ask your boss about it; (3) complain to your boss; (4) say no to your boss; (5) complain to HR; (6) talk to CEO. Talking to a government agency would be highest risk IF it caused problems for the company or came back on them; but if they silently ignore you then it is risk free. Impossible to know for sure. #5 and 6 are (in my opinion) far too risky unless you know the CEO and/or HR person really well and are sure (100%) that it will go over well. — bob, May 10 '19 at 15:29

Company threw a surprise party for the CEO, 3 weeks later management says we have to pay for it, do I have to?

12 Answers12

If you can afford to do so, then speak up

Otherwise say nothing and pay the $5