Some companies love hiding behind contracts until those same rules come back to bite them.

So, what would you do if your employer refused to make a small exception that would actually save them money, but later wanted to ignore parts of the contract themselves?

Would you let it slide? Or would you make sure they play by their own rules?

In the following story, one airline employee finds himself in this very predicament and uses the company policy against them.

Here’s the story.

You Want to Abide by the Contract? No problem.

I work for an airline. The company policy is that they will pay for parking at one airport of the employee’s choice, so the employee can commute to work.

My nearest airport is usually convenient, but sometimes it’s easier to make the long drive to my base airport when I have a trip that makes air commuting difficult.

My company owns a parking lot at my base airport, so they don’t pay for individual parking privileges there.

The company decided it wasn’t going to honor the union agreement any longer.

I wrote an email explaining my situation and asking for parking privileges at both my base airport and the airport nearest me. This would have resulted in my company paying less per month for my parking than if I had parked solely at the airport nearest my home.

The response was simple: “No. Your contract states that you can park at one location, period.”

Fast forward a couple of years. My company signs a letter of understanding (regarding a scheduling issue) with my union.

When I attempt to exercise the rights granted in this letter, my manager calls and tells me, “Corporate says we aren’t following that anymore.”

Frustrated, he decided to turn it around on them.

If the company isn’t willing to work with me on parking, I’m not willing to work with it on this letter. I demand that they follow the contract, including the letter of understanding.

When they refuse, I file a grievance with my union. This results in the company having to pay thousands of dollars to other employees on whom it had pulled its shenanigans—employees who weren’t annoyed enough to file a grievance.

If they want me to follow the contract strictly, I’m going to make sure they do, too.

Wow! That was smart thinking on his behalf.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit think about this whole situation.

The story made this person happy.

For this reader, it’s great that the company was forced to pay.

Great point.

Here’s someone talking about union dues in Florida.

The company needs to get real.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.