We all probably have some complaints about our jobs, but at the end of the day, we all try our best to minimize the chances of getting fired by the management team. Most of us work really hard to hold on to our jobs, either to get a promotion or to be a permanent employee of the organization, but sometimes our hard work is not enough to impress our managers. After working with full dedication for years, there are many employees who get fired from their job because of weird reasons that we can’t even imagine. The list contains 10 incidences where people were fired from their job for bizarre reasons.

1 In 2013, Dawn Steckmann was fired from her job at a cellphone-chip manufacturing company for taking frequent bathroom breaks, which were caused by pregnancy.

When Dawn Steckmann became pregnant for the second time in 2013, her bosses were not happy about her frequent bathroom breaks caused by her pregnancy. Reports suggest that in June 2013, the HR and supervisor at Maxim Integrated Products fired her after scolding her for not clocking out in a meeting arranged by them.

Ms. Dawn mentioned to the reporters that the HR manager blamed her for watching movies during her frequent breaks, and her supervisor compared her behavior with “stealing.”

Surprisingly, Ms. Steckmann’s bosses were quite flexible and understanding regarding her bladder issues during the first pregnancy. The company officials even said to her not to worry about the bathroom breaks.

Steckmann filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the cellphone-chip manufacturing company, seeking $406,000 as compensation. Before her termination, she worked at the company for 10 years as a fabrication technician. (source)

2 Micah Grimes, a girls’ basketball team coach at a Texas convent school was fired after his team won a match by 100 to zero. According to the Christian school, winning with that huge of a margin was embarrassing and was not Christlike. 

Any basketball team coach would be delighted to win a game comfortably with a big score difference. It boosts the confidence of the team for future matches. However, people in higher authority of a convent school based in Texas didn’t like the idea of thrashing an opponent with an embarrassing score sheet.

In 2009, the girls’ high school basketball team defeated Dallas Academy by 100 to zero, under the guidance of their coach, Micah Grimes. Instead of praising the coach for the impressive victory, the school authority fired Mr. Micah Grimes for a bizarre reason.

A statement signed by the school’s board chairman states that “It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition.”

Micah, on the other hand, had no regrets over his team’s win and refused to apologize for that. (source)

3 In 2007, Vicki Walker from Auckland was fired from her financial controller job after she wrote an email to her colleagues using ALL CAPTIAL LETTERS WITH BOLD RED FONT. According to the company, her action was “confrontational.”

Vicki Walker, an Auckland-based financial controller, probably never imagined that an email would cost her her job.

Ms. Walker lost her job in 2007 because of writing an email with the caps lock on, and the type font in bold and red. To help out her colleagues, the ProCare Health’s employee sent an email with full instructions on how to fill out some official forms.

But the email was written in capital letters using red, and bold font. According to the reports, the management team found this as “confrontational,” and Vicki was fired from her position without any prior notice.

Ms. Walker received a compensation amount of $17,000 for unfair termination after she sued her former employer. ProCare argued to the authorities that Walker’s action led to disharmony in the workplace.

“To say that [email] is confrontational is ridiculous. I have spent thousands defending myself, and there are so many issues that are unresolved that I want to take them up on,” Walker said. (source)

4 In 2012, a Georgia-based businessman and  CEO of a Las Vegas-based company fired many of their employees after President Obama was re-elected.  

President Obama’s reelection in 2012 brought joy to thousands of people. But Obama’s election victory led to the sacking of some people who were working for a small business owner based in Williamson, Georgia, and in Las Vegas.

The Georgia-based businessman told the reporters that the election prompted him to fire two of his workers, and cut the working hours of many others.

The man, who introduced himself as “Stu” without any last name, told the reporters, “Yesterday, I called all my part-time employees in and said because Obama won, I was cutting their hours from 30 to 25 a week so I would not fall under the Obamacare mandate.

I tried to make sure that the people I had to lay off voted for Obama,” he added.

A similar incident happened the same year in Las Vegas. A day after President Barack Obama was re-elected, a man named “David,” CEO of a company from Las Vegas, sacked 22 of his then 114 employees. (source)

5 Michelle Hammack, a worker at a daycare center based in Florida was fired for leaving the kids in her room unattended to put out a fire in the next room.

In 2013, Michelle Hammack was working at a daycare center in Florida when she discovered flames coming out of an oven in the next room. She grabbed a fire extinguisher and managed to get the fire under control, saving many kids in the center.

Usually, people who save lives are praised for their heroic acts, but Michelle’s employer decided to fire her instead. According to her boss, Michelle was sacked because she left the kids unattended in the room.

“I fired her only because she left her room. It’s not acceptable, and if anybody else does the same thing, I will fire again. I will fire them. No question,” Hammack’s boss, Olga Rozhaov, said to the reporter. (source)