After a grueling 40 hours work week, getting paid for that sweet sweet overtime is what makes showing up to work worth it.

But unsurprisingly, anything that your work has to pay you more for is not high on their list of favorite things.

So its no uncommon for management to try and find “creative” ways around giving people their justly deserved overtime pay!

But after this user’s work demanded he come in on his day off to do required shadowing, he found a way to fight back, and made sure to log it all as overtime!

Check it out!

Required to “make time” for something the higher-ups wanted, so I used it for OT

My department heads recently suggested that employees shadow doctors in the department in order to learn more about workflow and reasoning in treatment/care/diagnosis.

However, they put it entirely on the staff to set up when they would come in and shadow.

Any attempts to get the higher ups to work with us on setting up a schedule fell on deaf ears and the resolution we got was to come in on an off day to volunteer (uhhhh no).

But OP soon found the opportunity in his schedule…

Well, I had double nightshift OT coming up with a lot of off days afterwards, so I decided to shadow on my last shift.

I ended up shadowing for most of a full-day shift before getting checked off to go home.

Later in the week, I get a call from the department manager in shambles that I did that much OT.

OP was confused, he was only doing exactly what the higher-ups asked!

When I told them it was never made clear if we were to clock out or not for shadowing, and that emails never got answered, I said I couldn’t be blamed.

The conversation ended quickly and later, a schedule was set up so that employees could shadow on their shift.

What did management expect, them to clock out during a work task that the higher-ups were demanding that they complete? You think I’m spending my day off doing MORE work?

Reddit felt the exact same way, with many sharing their own stories of malicious overtime!

But some people said even if your boss pays your overtime, they can try and take it back!

And finally, this user reminded the comments that the Department of Labor has made clear that employees cannot work at their company for free!

You reap what you sow, people.

Don’t ask for something you don’t want done!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.