The answer is “yes”, and it is an increasingly common occurrence.
According to a new report by the National Employment Law Project, the number of people who claim they have been fired for being unhappy at work has increased by more than a third since 2012.
The study found that 3.3 per cent of employees in the US lost their jobs because they were unhappy at work. The figure is a significant increase on the 2.8 per cent who were dismissed in 2012.
The report also revealed that the most common reason for dismissal was for being “unhappy” with their job, which was cited by 3.8 per cent of workers. This was followed by “unwillingness to follow company policies” (2.7 per cent), “insubordination” (1.9 per cent) and “poor performance” (1.7 per cent).
In the UK, where the law is slightly more forgiving, the number of people who lost their jobs for being unhappy at work is even higher, with 3.9 per cent of employees being dismissed because they were unhappy.
The figures come at a time when employers are increasingly using the law to enforce “employee happiness”. The survey also found that almost half of the employees who were dismissed for being unhappy at work had been previously warned about their behaviour.