I secretly moved to Argentina – my boss sacked me when he found out

It seemed like a good idea at the time. In 2019, Rebecca*, 55, was working remotely in the UK as a senior business journalist. After working at her company for three years, Rebecca, based in London, fell pregnant with her daughter, but was expected back at work only six weeks after giving birth. Her company was US-owned, so she had a US employment contract, and those were the terms. As she found it difficult to cope, her former partner suggested they all move to his native Argentina to be close to family. Rebecca could continue to work remotely, and his family could help with childcare. Convinced it was an ideal solution, Rebecca and her baby were Argentina-bound. She didn’t mention it to her boss, as she was already working remotely and working US hours; she didn’t think things would change enough to warrant bringing it up. “I didn’t foresee what would happen – I thought it would be fine and that I’d get away with it,” she says. But the wi-fi her partner promised on his parents’ farming property was patchy, and working from noisy cafes in town was challenging, so keeping up with her workload became impossible. Then the final straw came when her boss asked her to attend a conference in London. Rebecca had to come clean. “He was fuming because I was supposed to be in a senior role, and he ended up having to bring someone from Brussels over to cover the conference,” she recalls. “Then he raised how I hadn’t been performing well, and that he wanted me to leave.” Shorts Rebecca tried to argue that her maternity leave hadn’t been enough, but it was too late – the damage was done and her severance package was arranged. Now back in London, Rebecca is scrabbling to land freelance work, and finds herself among the 1.77 million unemployed Brits, all competing for the lowest number of available jobs in five years. It’s a decision she still regrets. “It was a very bad move – the long-term impact has been terrible, as I haven’t been able to find another full-time job that pays as well. I’ve applied for so many jobs, and I’m now 55, so I think my age is working against me,” says Rebecca. “I’ve never really recovered professionally,” she admits. “I’ve been trying to segue into editor roles, but that hasn’t worked. Then I’ve applied for more junior roles, but don’t hear anything. I feel like I always get knocked back. I don’t even get a reply.” Salvaging the situation Jenny Marley is senior managing counsel for employment at Remote, a company that helps employers hire people internationally. She’s seen this situation come up several times in her nearly five years with the company. While employers naturally don’t like being lied to, there are ways to rectify the situation. Marley says that if there was minimal deception, over a short period of time where no laws were broken, the damage can be reversed. Jenny Marley warns that breaking tax law usually results in a contract termination “If it’s a clear mistake that the employee’s really apologetic about, then most of the time, you would have a conversation with that employee where you ask them to return, and you can move forward,” says Marley. “However, if there has been real dishonesty there, which means that actually the relationship just can’t be repaired – or they have caused great exposure [tax law violations] for the company, then you would need to move to a termination.” Employment, tax and data protection laws vary across countries, so a company with people working internationally secretly could be violating those laws – as could the individual. “The first thing is, do you have the right to work in that country? That is the bread and butter of any employment contract. You don’t let somebody work in that country unless they have the right to work,” Marley explains. “Then it goes into a multitude of different factors. If it was just a few months, it would probably be okay from a tax perspective. Say you’re working from another country for six months, you might have a UK employment agreement; there’d be an argument that the other country’s law would apply. “Then you get into questions like, what benefits should they be getting? What holiday? Are they insured? If we need to terminate them, how do we do it?” Some companies do allow people to work from abroad, Marley adds, but it’s usually for a set period per year, which could vary by country depending on their laws. Crucially, it still needs to be approved by HR. On the flip side, Marley has also seen situations where employers have found out about employees secretly working from abroad, and worked out a way to keep them there. If someone has been a strong performer, with great internal and external relationships, she has seen managers create formal employment contracts in the employee’s new country to ensure they can legally work from there. But even if a manager wants to fight to keep an employee who has been found to be secretly working abroad, it still might not go their way. Matthew Simon is a technology and operations consultant who has previously been a manager in charge of staff members who decided to move abroad without telling the company. Despite making the case to keep an especially strong team member, Simon ended up with no choice but to sack them as they had breached company policy. “I ended up having a long and difficult dispute over his employment. I eventually lost that, and after a year of keeping him employed, I was finally forced to terminate him,” he says. The golden rule All agree that the moral of the story is clear – fess up or be fired. “Be transparent. Check the rules. Read your policy. Speak to your manager,” Marley advises. Rebecca certainly wishes she had before it was too late. “In hindsight, I would have asked my boss if it was okay to work remotely from Argentina. I would have even asked for it as unpaid leave. I should have thought things through more and not risked my whole career,” she says. * Name has been changed to protect her identity.