Manager commits wage theft, but employee maliciously complies, business goes under.

Companies will do anything to save a buck. Sometimes that means offloading costs onto consumers. underpaying their staff, or both. Employees and consumers may feel powerless, but sometimes being cautious of where you spend your money and unionizing with your co-workers can send a strong message.

On a popular Reddit thread in the Malicious Compliance Subreddit, an employee refuses to let the business he works for steal his wages, and they fire him for it, but then their business falls apart.

They write:

Many years ago, I worked at a place with many arcade games and pizza, similar to Chuck-E-Cheese. I was hired to do the maintenance, repair, and setup of these arcade machines. There was already someone there doing this, but they were never allowed to work more than forty hours a week, and the place was open seven days a week, nine hours a day (63 hours a week, not including prep for opening and cleanup after closing).

At the end of my first shift, I was told that I was also expected to help with cleanup since everyone that worked close had to help with cleanup. All my shifts were closing shifts. This meant I had less time before my morning classes than expected when taking the job, but a few extra bucks were valuable to a starving college student.