Imagine raising your sister’s children after her death, and one of them is autistic. If you were their legal guardian, would you prioritize your job, or would you prioritize being there for the children?

In this story, one woman is in this sad situation, and she is prioritizing the children. However, a coworker thinks she’s being entitled and lazy just because she doesn’t work overtime.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

AITA for refusing to work overtime resulting in other people having to do so?

4 years ago my brother-in-law died, leaving my sister with a daughter and an autistic son.

After his death she was convinced that she would shortly follow him so she made arrangements for me to be her kids’ guardian.

Then 2 years ago she died.

Since my autistic nephew needs a lot of attention I quit my job and started looking for a new one that would suit my schedule.

She prioritized her niece over a high paying job.

I accepted a job with a lower salary (my sister left me her paid off house and half her life insurance while the kids got trusts from the other half and their father’s policy) with the stipulation that I will have a set schedule, get all the weekends and holidays off no matter what happens and absolutely no OT.

The reason I did that is because my nephew needs a set schedule or he has meltdowns, and most of my weekends are dedicated to my niece.

A new mom thought OP was being selfish.

About 6 months ago a new mom joined the team, and since the beginning she hated the fact that I leave the office at 5 on the dot and am never called outside of office hours. She used to complain loudly to people where I could hear but I never engaged.

Then yesterday we had a meeting and when we were leaving she confronted me, saying that I wasn’t the only one with kids, that my refusal to pull my weight means that she is missing on time with her baby and that I am a horrible person who will raise entitled kids…etc.

I didn’t respond and just sent her an email and cc’d HR and told her all further complaints about my schedule should be directed to them.

I don’t think HR should’ve told her private business.

I guess she was pulled aside and got a talking to, and even though I didn’t want anyone to know about my private affairs I guess the HR person spilled the beans.

And then she confronted me again in the break room in front of everyone saying that I should have told her that I specifically negotiated to have fixed hours to take care of my autistic kid instead of making her look bad.

I just left before I did something that would have cost me my job.

But after cooling down I feel a bit guilty.

Should I have accepted to work some OT from home after the kids go to bed? Is it really unfair to my coworkers that I don’t even work OT when we have an emergency at work?

Can you report HR to someone? I don’t think it was right for them to share OP’s private situation at home and what she negotiated.

No, I don’t think OP did anything wrong. If her contract stipulates that she never has to work OT, then she doesn’t need to feel guilty about not working OT.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

She didn’t make her coworker look bad. Her coworker did that all by herself.

This person wouldn’t have been so nice.

She’s probably jealous.

This person warns against doing any overtime.

It really doesn’t matter what her coworker thinks.

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.