We’re only three months into 2025, and already the list of huge companies announcing mass layoffs is long. 

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s latest Labour Market Outlook polled over 2,000 UK employers in 2025, too; they found 32% planned to reduce their headcount this year through redundancies or reduced hiring this year (ah, lovely). 

In such a climate, people like Redditor r/Prejudice-Much aren’t exactly in the mood to help their former employers after they’ve been abruptly dismissed.

In a post shared to r/AITAH (Am I The Asshole Here), the Redditor asked whether they were right to deny their former workplace some crucial information.

So, we spoke to workplace protocol pro and founder of Etiquette Expert Jo Hayes about whether their response was appropriate. 

The fired worker refused to give his former company a code

In their Reddit post, the site user said that it had been three months since he’d been let go. 

“They made it look like a layoff, [saying they] wanted someone with more expertise than a senior manager,” they wrote. 

But they think this was a lie because the person who replaced them was actually more junior. 

Their boss “avoided any communication and directed me to HR” for any questions, giving them no support during the wind-down period because he “considered himself overqualified to do an off-boarding with me.” 

Three months later, the Redditor continued, their boss messaged them for a code from the two-step verification system the post author’s number was still attached to. 

“I ignored it completely,” the poster said, “but now I am wondering if I should have given the code to him.” 

Here’s Jo’s verdict 

“My advice for responding to such a request from a former employer (one who’s fired you), is the same advice I give to all clients, no matter what the situation,” Jo told HuffPost UK. 

“It’s The Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” 

In this case, she says, that means handing over the info ― even if you don’t think the way you were treated was fair. 

“This may, or may not have been an unfair dismissal. We don’t know,” she added. Either way, though, the etiquette pro says: “a person of good character would respond by giving the codes/logins requested.” 

That’s not to say she doesn’t get the appeal of the move.

But Jo shared, “While it may feel good in the short term, such an attitude/response enforces a ‘victim’ mentality in yourself, and allows bitterness and resentment to take root and grow. Not a place anyone wants to be in if they want to preserve their mental/emotional health.” 

“The best thing you can do ― the most professional, well-mannered, I-am-a-person-of-good-character thing you can do - is to give the codes/logins. Politely. Concisely. Avoiding any snarky remarks,” she ended ― even if all it does it prove how much of a better person than them you are.