Fired Reddit employee takes to social network site to criticize former employer... only for firm's CEO to respond in public post
By SOPHIE JANE EVANS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 21:53 GMT, 6 October 2014 | UPDATED: 22:02 GMT, 6 October 2014
After being fired from Reddit, he took to the social networking site to criticize his former employer.
But David Ehrmann's complaints escalated to an unexpected level when Reddit's CEO replied back - in view of everyone on the site.
Mr Ehrmann, a former advertising programmer, opened one of the firm's trademark AMA (Ask Me Anything) threads after being dismissed from the company.
Hitting out: David Ehrmann, a former advertising programmer, opened one of the firm's trademark AMA (Ask Me Anything) threads (pictured) after being fired from the company. On the thread, he wrote: 'I was laid off'
Not letting it go: However, after posting the remarks, it didn't take long for Reddit CEO Yishan Wong to respond (pictured), with his first priority being to clarify that Mr Ehrmann was 'fired', not 'laid off for no reason'
On the thread, which was set up yesterday, he wrote: 'I was laid off', before explaining the reason for his dismissal as: 'Officially, no reason'.
He continued: 'I vaguely know how CA employment law works and that you limit your liability by not stating a reason. It's also really hard to work through in your mind.
'The best theory I have is that, two weeks earlier, I raised concerns about donating 10 per cent of ad revenue to charity. Some management likes getting feedback, some doesn't.
'The reason I had concerns was that this was revenue, not income. That means you need - 10 per cent margins to break even.
'This can be hard to do; Yahoo and Twitter don't. Salesforce does something similar, but it's more all-around, and in a way that promotes the product without risking the company's financials.'
However, after posting the remarks, it didn't take long for Reddit CEO Yishan Wong to respond, with his first priority being to clarify that Mr Ehrmann was 'fired', not 'laid off'.
ed left and right), who has previously worked at Facebook as a director of engineering of projects, wrote: 'You were fired for the following reasons', before going on to list an array of reasons
Explanation: The successful businessman said Mr Ehrmann 'did not even come close' to getting his work done and had broken his non-disparagement agreement via his 'irresponsibly unfounded' Reddit post
The businessman, who has previously worked at Facebook as a director of engineering of projects, wrote: 'You were fired for the following reasons:
He added that Mr Ehrmann 'did not even come close' to getting his work done and had broken his non-disparagement agreement via his 'irresponsibly unfounded' Reddit post.
Social networking site: Wang, who has previously worked at Facebook as a director of engineering of projects, is currently CEO of Reddit (pictured). Mr Ehrmann did not appear to respond to his former boss's comments
He said: 'When an employee is dismissed from employment at a company, the policy of almost every company (including Reddit) is not to comment, either publicly or internally.
'In return, the polite expectation is that the employee will not go shooting their mouth off about the company especially (as in your case) through irresponsibly unfounded speculation.
'Unfortunately, you have just forfeited this arrangement.'
Minutes after Wong posted the response, a user replied with a simple, but accurate, 'oh s***'.
Mr Ehrmann, however, did not appear to respond to the comments.
- David Ehrmann opened AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread of Reddit yesterday
- On it, he wrote: 'I was laid off', before claiming dismissal was for 'no reason'
- But after posting remarks, Reddit CEO Yishan Wong posted a public reply
- First priority was to clarify advertising programmer was 'fired' not 'laid off'
- Went on to say Mr Ehrmann was sacked for 'incompetence and not getting much work done' and 'asking inappropriate questions during interviews'
- Added that Mr Ehrmann had broken non-disparagement agreement via post
By SOPHIE JANE EVANS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 21:53 GMT, 6 October 2014 | UPDATED: 22:02 GMT, 6 October 2014
After being fired from Reddit, he took to the social networking site to criticize his former employer.
But David Ehrmann's complaints escalated to an unexpected level when Reddit's CEO replied back - in view of everyone on the site.
Mr Ehrmann, a former advertising programmer, opened one of the firm's trademark AMA (Ask Me Anything) threads after being dismissed from the company.
Hitting out: David Ehrmann, a former advertising programmer, opened one of the firm's trademark AMA (Ask Me Anything) threads (pictured) after being fired from the company. On the thread, he wrote: 'I was laid off'
Not letting it go: However, after posting the remarks, it didn't take long for Reddit CEO Yishan Wong to respond (pictured), with his first priority being to clarify that Mr Ehrmann was 'fired', not 'laid off for no reason'
On the thread, which was set up yesterday, he wrote: 'I was laid off', before explaining the reason for his dismissal as: 'Officially, no reason'.
He continued: 'I vaguely know how CA employment law works and that you limit your liability by not stating a reason. It's also really hard to work through in your mind.
'The best theory I have is that, two weeks earlier, I raised concerns about donating 10 per cent of ad revenue to charity. Some management likes getting feedback, some doesn't.
'The reason I had concerns was that this was revenue, not income. That means you need - 10 per cent margins to break even.
'This can be hard to do; Yahoo and Twitter don't. Salesforce does something similar, but it's more all-around, and in a way that promotes the product without risking the company's financials.'
However, after posting the remarks, it didn't take long for Reddit CEO Yishan Wong to respond, with his first priority being to clarify that Mr Ehrmann was 'fired', not 'laid off'.
ed left and right), who has previously worked at Facebook as a director of engineering of projects, wrote: 'You were fired for the following reasons', before going on to list an array of reasons
Explanation: The successful businessman said Mr Ehrmann 'did not even come close' to getting his work done and had broken his non-disparagement agreement via his 'irresponsibly unfounded' Reddit post
The businessman, who has previously worked at Facebook as a director of engineering of projects, wrote: 'You were fired for the following reasons:
- 'Incompetence and not getting much work done
- 'Inappropriate or irrelevant comments/questions when interviewing candidates
- 'Making incorrect comments in public about reddit’s systems that you had very little knowledge of, even after having these errors pointed out by your peers and manager
- 'Not taking feedback from your manager or other engineers about any of these when given to you, continuing to do #2 until we removed you from interviewing, and never improving at #1.'
He added that Mr Ehrmann 'did not even come close' to getting his work done and had broken his non-disparagement agreement via his 'irresponsibly unfounded' Reddit post.
Social networking site: Wang, who has previously worked at Facebook as a director of engineering of projects, is currently CEO of Reddit (pictured). Mr Ehrmann did not appear to respond to his former boss's comments
He said: 'When an employee is dismissed from employment at a company, the policy of almost every company (including Reddit) is not to comment, either publicly or internally.
'In return, the polite expectation is that the employee will not go shooting their mouth off about the company especially (as in your case) through irresponsibly unfounded speculation.
'Unfortunately, you have just forfeited this arrangement.'
Minutes after Wong posted the response, a user replied with a simple, but accurate, 'oh s***'.
Mr Ehrmann, however, did not appear to respond to the comments.
