Workplace ordered employee to respond off the clock — so he maliciously complied and cost them an extra $200

If employers are bent on rigid timings and working hours while clocking in, the same should be the case while clocking out. A user who goes by u/Sethandbeans shared a post on February 2 about how they had to work off the clock but were refused overtime pay. The employee had been a general manager at two companies previously and knew about labor laws. Currently working in a grocery store, when the company tried to take the employee for a ride by asking them to pitch in out-of-work hours, they stood by the very same laws and made them pay. 

Recalling a previous leadership training with HR, the employee specifically remembered how they were urged to get employees to follow a proper call-out procedure. “You need to tell them to call out on our call-out line. Let them know they need to leave their name, employee ID, and their shift,” was the information emphasized. This was also sent in writing via email, and the worker decided to stand by it. “When I was at work one day, I put in a timekeeper request for an hour of labor. This also happened on a Wednesday in a week where Wednesday was my only day off,” they mentioned. 

Going back to the rules, the employee noted that in their country, working “even a single minute off the clock” requires the company to pay for the hour. In addition, because I was scheduled for 6 days already, that counted as another day of work. Due to this, they timed their Sunday shift, since they were forced to work seven days a week for that week. When they brought it up with HR, they were told they were “abusing the system.” The department further noted that they wanted to write the employee up as they were demanding around $200 worth of pay. “($40/hr wage, so 8 hours at time and a half is $160 plus the $40 on Wednesday.)” They explained. 

The employee didn’t stand down. They reiterated that they had to be paid for the extreme time they worked and even showed the written email with the instructions from the training. “I told them that I value my work-life balance, and even a minute of work is still work, and I expect to be paid for each moment of work I do,” the post revealed. They even threatened to take the company to court and have them pay way more and lose inevitably. HR had to comply, but even then, they procrastinated, stating the need for discussion with higher-ups. “They never got back to me. But my paycheck was straight for the period,” the manager noted. 

A week after the fiasco, an email was sent, “telling leadership to let their teams know they weren't to text the managers off the clock, and that if an issue arose, they could call the store and the store could decide if it was important enough to contact us on our days off.” Not only did the manager prevent working overtime without pay, but they even got the rules changed and saved other managers from going through the same havoc. Working overtime costs employees their health and work-life balance, but they still comply out of loyalty, professionalism, and even the need for extra wages.

A study published by the BMJ journals revealed that overworked employees tend to show a shift in brain structure. Overworked individuals showed a “19% increase in left caudal middle frontal gyrus volume” of the brain. This part of the brain is connected to cognitive and emotional regulation, and this increase leads to a long-term change in structure that will impact health.

According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, there are several systems in place to pay workers for overtime hours. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has been set up to ensure that eligible employees are paid at least 1.5 to 2 times their regular hourly rate for overtime. There are around 9.8 million employees for whom these rules are applicable. The least employers can do is give workers their rightful dues. u/notanotherfart said, “I would be encouraging them to complete the writeup. Quite enthusiastically in fact. It would confuse them as well as give you actual evidence of their... Incompetence.” u/BarneyPoppy added, “Good for you!! You showed ‘em!” 

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