‘I was her unpaid freelancer’: Employee says manager made her work 14-hour days for 2 years on husband’s personal brand

An employee has claimed that a manager made them work for up to 14 hours a day for two years, assigning additional tasks they later discovered were connected to her husband’s personal brand. The employee said the work was initially presented as part of their official responsibilities and alleged that they later received a poor rating and no appraisal after failing to meet the manager’s expectations.

In a social media post, the employee claimed the manager began assigning them additional work about a month after they joined the company. They said they continued handling their regular office responsibilities while also taking on the manager’s workload, without initially realising that some of the assignments were personal in nature.

“She was so audacious and overconfident that I never even doubted her,” the employee wrote.


The employee said they frequently worked until 10 or 11 PM because the extra assignments could not be completed within a nine-hour workday. As it was their first job, they said they assumed such working hours were normal.

Also Read: Techie dies in office toilet after clocking in, authorities reject work-related claim

According to the post, the employee later received a poor rating and zero appraisal, which they claimed was linked not to their official responsibilities but to their failure to complete the manager’s project to her expectations.

The employee said they eventually discovered that the project they had believed was for the company was actually associated with the manager’s husband’s personal brand.

“I was literally working as her unpaid freelancer for 2 years and I didn’t even know it. I’m devastated,” the employee wrote.

Employee alleges excessive workload and denied leave

The Reddit user also claimed that the manager expected them to produce more than 40 creatives in a single day and frequently rejected their leave requests.

They recalled asking for two days off for a trip, but said the manager responded, “Take your laptop along, you can work from there, I have a deadline.”

The employee later questioned whose deadline they had actually been working towards and wondered whether it was connected to the launch of the manager’s husband’s brand.

The post also said the experience left the employee dealing with severe work anxiety.

Also Read: Ex-Delhi Police ACP recalls German police encounter, says it made him see the uniform differently after 38 years in service

Netizens react

The account prompted users to question why the employee had not approached the company’s HR department about the additional work and alleged working conditions.

One user said they had only read the headline because the rest of the post was difficult to read, while advising employees to avoid overtime unless it is formally requested and confirmed in writing, with an agreement that the additional hours will be paid.