An employer’s new late policy is getting ridiculed on TikTok, with many people stating that whoever posted the notice detailing the rule, probably didn’t think it through.
Callie (@_cal_cifer) is one such person: she uploaded all of the problems she has with the policy and why the employer could find themselves in serious trouble. Other TikTokers said that the notice is essentially evidence that the business in question has no issues with skirting labor laws and leaving blatant documentation they are committing a crime.
@_cal_cifer Yea good luck with that 😃 #toxicworkplace #toxicworkenvironment #badboss #corporate #corporatelife ♬ original sound – Callie
“Hi and welcome to: Companies Must Be on Crack. Today we have this wonderful example,” Callie narrates at the beginning of her video, showing off a green screen image of a paper notice put up by an employer.
The memo, which appears to have been taped on a surface for workers to see, reads as follows: “NEW OFFICE RULE, For every minute you are late for work, you will be required to work for 10minutes after 6pm. For example, if you arrive at 10:02, you will have to stay an extra minutes until 6:20pm.”
The end of the notice is capped off with a colloquial send-off, “Thanks.”
Callie went on to discuss this business’ new policy and how she wouldn’t stand for it. “I don’t know what you’re thanking me for because I would literally never do that,” she says.
The most glaring reason for her refusal to abide by this policy is the inequitable allotment of time the employer wanted to penalize workers for missing should they arrive at work late.
“First off, how do you equate a minute to 10 minutes?” she asks. “Like the policy would be insane enough as is if it was one minute for one minute, but the fact that you’re saying for every individual minute that you are late, you have to work ten extra minutes? [That] makes this absolutely insane.”
Callie also says that managers who are in charge of attempting to implement this stipulation are more than likely not going to be held to the same standard.
“Next, I guarantee that no member of management is ever going to be in accordance with this rule,” she adds. “If my shift is 10 to 6, and I show up at 10:02, I’m still leaving at 6. Maybe the absolute latest I would leave would be 6:02.
The TikToker also brought up another consequence a business may have to face as a result of attempting to implement such a ruling: overtime pay. If there are hourly employees expected to follow this rule, they could usually be pushed well past their 8-hour work day, affording them the ability to earn extra cash as a result.
“But this also raises the question that if you’re equating a minute to 10 minutes, a lot of hourly employees are going to easily pushed into overtime. Is this company completely comfortable with paying all of this sudden overtime?” she asks. “Because they’re forcing employees to stay 20, 30, 40 minutes over? Because they were four minutes late for work? We’ll see how long this lasts.”
It’s not difficult to imagine that if a worker wanted to earn some extra cash, they would simply arrive to work 6 minutes late, giving them an hour of overtime pay while they’re at work. And if they’re really industrious, they can show up for work a whole 12 minutes late which will give them time-and-a-half for two hours of extra labor for the day.
Commenters who responded to Callie’s video came up with what they thought were easy ways to combat this new rule.
One TikToker suggested workers could assume the opposite of this stipulation would be true; if they show up to work a few minutes early, does that mean that they get to leave 10 minutes earlier for every minute they were pre-punctual? “Easy fight. i show up 3 min early and and leave 30 minutes early,” they wrote.
This sentiment was echoed by another user: “So then it works both ways right? If I start 15 minutes early I get to leave 2.5 hours (150 minuets) early, right?”
Another person said that the company opened itself up to a world of legal trouble as a result of attempting to force workers to stay later than their allotted shift amounts. “It’s awesome when labor law violations are posted in writing,” they wrote.
Someone else questioned, “Wouldn’t that be wage theft?”
@_cal_cifer Yea good luck with that 😃 #toxicworkplace #toxicworkenvironment #badboss #corporate #corporatelife ♬ original sound – Callie
“It doesn’t say anything about it being unpaid. The sheer amount of money that will be paid as overtime would have me showing up late everyday,” another reasoned.
According to the Morgan & Morgan law firm, there are clearly defined labor rulings when it comes to scheduled shift times. Employers aren’t legally allowed to keep a worker past those times if they aren’t getting compensated for it. “Your employer cannot force you to stay longer than your scheduled shift to end it or stay against your will,” the site reads. “However, an employer does have the right to ask you to stay beyond your shift, and you are free to do so as long as you are being compensated for it.”
Labor laws also vary based on the state of the business and its employees.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Callie via email for further comment.
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