10 unfair workplace practices that are now being accepted as normal

Work scams that have become accepted practices.

Most people work their jobs to pay their bills. There are a few lucky people who get their dream jobs in an ideal work environment. However, these are very few people and most others are subject to unrealistic demands from their employers. In such scenarios, they have no choice but to comply and do what they demand. u/slipsbups asked the community, "What's a work scam that's become so normalized we don't even realize it's a scam anymore?" Here are 10 of the most shocking answers that individuals had to share.

1. Being there before their shift starts.

“Be here 15 minutes before your shift starts." Ya bro. Normally I would because I like to ease in, make a coffee, etc. but if you require it and don’t pay, I’m rolling in at 9 on the dot. u/Lazerith22. Call centers in my experience are terrible with this. They'll say things like "Be ready to take calls at 8" when it takes 15 minutes or so to open and log in to all the programs you'll need for the day. Some companies like to say things like "You can clock in up to three minutes early". Gee, thanks. Because your basic a** computers y'all bought take 5 minutes just to log in before I can even start to open programs and y'all tell us to not keep any of the programs we need open overnight. u/sicilian504

2. Unpaid lunches.

Unpaid lunches result in a 9-hour work day. Absolute f****** horses**t. u/Aern. To me, what's worse is my travel isn't included within the "work day". So I often will close, sometimes getting out at 1030, 30-ish min drive home and 40-ish if I hit a train. So say 11 pm. If I open I have to be there at 645. So if I want to shower and get decently ready I need to be up at 530 and leave at 6 (cause 15 minutes early is "on time"). That gives me 6.5 hours of sleep. If I was to fall asleep the moment I walked in the door. That's obviously not happening. I know things get messy with trying to work with everybody's drive time, but come on that's total bulls***. u/kallen8277

3. The role of a team lead.

"Team lead." It really means "You're going to get management responsibilities without management pay." u/thomascameron. I was "promoted" to Delivery Captain which added absolutely nothing to my paycheck. I started referring to myself as "Captain Delivery" instead like I was some C-rate superhero just to annoy the bosses. u/Delicious-Breath8415. Yep. Currently fighting for my pay increase. Again I have a chat with the boss tomorrow about this. I'm getting pissed off for these silent promotions, where more responsibility is eagerly given to people, but increasing the pay? Hmmm, not that easy. u/Dechri_

4. Healthcare is dependent on their work.

For the Americans in the crowd: Let's talk about tying proper healthcare to our jobs, shall we? It's become so normalized that we sometimes forget how wild it is that a huge chunk of our healthcare security is linked to where we work. If you or one of your loved ones requires ongoing medical coverage, you literally cannot quit your job. If you're thinking about switching careers or just need a change of pace, there's this looming threat. You can't just leave, cause if something unfortunate happens, you're screwed. We are all hostages of our employers. u/dtelad11

5. Free labor. 

"Do it for the team, others are counting on you" to try and get free labor. u/Psychological-Poet-4. I did this for multiple years. I was told it was an extra experience. I worked at this place for 7 years and did 7 jobs including a management role. My team was eliminated. I lasted another year. When I quit after being told they relied on me they let me go within 48 hours. I spent years working until 10 pm including doing work on other teams and work on projects my director was supposed to lead. It’s free labor. I have a hard time explaining this to people who didn’t work at my org but all of my friends and colleagues who have quit or been fired feel the exact same way. u/scrivenerserror

6. Attendance policies. 

Attendance policies, telling an employee who they can and can’t take time off to grief for. u/rubygalhappy. Or even how garbage grief time is. If my partner passes, I get three days of bereavement. u/aimxaq. I remember seeing 3 days of grievance if my child died and yeah, if the worst happens to me or any of my coworker's children and they try to force that parent back after 3 days they're going to have a lot of open positions to fill. 3 days for a child is a joke. u/keelhaulrose. A few months ago my Dad and my brother died in a car accident and that’s how I found out the 3 days of bereavement leave is ‘per dead person’ and I got 6 days off. u/Fuzzy_Diver_320

7. Sick and vacation paid time off being clubbed.

Mixing together sick and vacation PTO. u/rnagy2346. And then having to "earn" that PTO a few hours at a time across pay periods. Or having a cap on how much PTO you "earn." Bonus points if it doesn't roll over to the next year and if you don't use it you lose it. u/DpressedAndStresd. I had a supervisor very early in my career who pre-emptively let me know that mental health days are a completely legitimate reason to use a sick day, and I'm very thankful for it. u/neograymatter. I lost ALL of my PTO because I was sick for four days. It was my first time using my PTO. u/Forestflowered

8. Wage theft in general. 

Wage theft of almost every type is so normalized we barely notice it. u/durgadas. Wage theft in terms of total dollars stolen absolutely dwarfs any other form of theft, including shoplifting. Yet I hear at least one news story a day about mass shoplifting and how companies are closing stores in some areas because of it (which is a lie). u/ThereHasToBeMore1387. It dwarfs all other types of robbery combined. It is much easier for me to not pay something I owe than it is to take it once you have it but the result is the same. u/Is20008179. 

9. Forced after-work activities.

After-work activities being “not mandatory but advised” or affecting your standing at work. I used to have a two-hour turnaround commute for work and at least once a month my bosses would look to have the whole team go out for a few hours after an 8-hour shift starting at the crack of dawn where every minute of our day was accounted for. I just wanted to clock in and then go home because I was just mentally exhausted by the end of the day, but would always get the stink eye when I would politely decline the three-hour detour for “team building” with a team we couldn’t even socialize with since we were on the phone 8 hours a day. u/mbattagl

10. Unequal pay. 

The part where I make 100 bucks for my employer and he gives me 10 for my efforts. u/lobsterdog666. I don't think people realize how little actual work goes into high-level management. When I was DoIT for a company, the VP and President were constantly talking about how busy they were. However, I kept an eye on their schedules through Outlook. They had a bunch of useless meetings that were essentially progress updates, and then did like ten minutes of planning what to do next and then went home. It's such a scam. u/Canopenerdude