Imagine being hired in a position where you’re paid a salary, but you’re also told that you will be paid for overtime. If human resources kept changing the rules about how you would be compensated for working overtime, would you get frustrated and look for another job, or would you find a way to make the rules work in your favor?

In this story, one employee is in that exact situation. They’re pretty frustrated about it at first, but they eventually figure out how to make the rules work in their favor.

Keep reading for all the details.

No overtime, please adhere to the rules

Well, problem was, that the rules were established a total of 4 times (in different times).

I started working as an engineer in a multinational company, decent pay, really good benefits, etc.

Only catch was, that I was hired through a recruiting company (hence the good benefits), so I was basically a contractor.

Contract was simple, it specified hours, vacations and (important) overtime pay.

OP tried to clarify the overtime situation.

I start working, and first weeks were good, no overtime needed (not a fan of it either).

But then comes the need to stay late, so I ask one if my managers if there was no issue with the overtime.

To which he replied that my position is salary (not really his fault, that’s what he was told), so, no overtime (no problem, not a fan).

Then I ask about what are the rules then.

He had no idea as I was the first salary-contractor employee he had.

They went to HR.

We ask the HR rep, she gives the rules that specify that any extra time worked, could be compensated with paid leave, and I had to keep track of my hours.

Good enough I complied, didn’t even use all the hours.

Time passed, then a few loaded days at the end of the month, and at the start of the month I went to the hospital to help a friend, and was counting on using the extra hours with paid leave, only to find out that I couldn’t, as now I was being told that I could only use them at the month they happened, so no hours to spend.

I adjusted and complied again, even when they screwed me out of one full day of paid leave.

OP pushed back about the overtime issue.

Time passes again, and I’m starting to stack hours, and can’t even use them due to the project I was working on, so one friday I’m asked to come in on saturday, and it’s almost the end of the month, and ask if just this once I could have overtime instead of comp.

And my other manager (had two, both direct employees) says that it’s not possible, that we have to follow the rules.

To which I state that she remember that I’m outsourced and have a contract that states I have to be paid overtime, and that I only get verbal confusing rules about this.

HR set new rules.

She was already giving me too much time workload (and we had our small profesional differences) due to the urgency of the project, and she said that she would check with the new HR supervisor about my case.

She writes an email, where HR states a new set of rules:

1. Any extra time during the week, must be used within the same week

2. To get a paid leave day, I would have to work at least 6 hours on saturday, and those saturdays had two months expiration date to be used.

This new set of rules, practically voids all the hours I stacked, and I wasn’t having it anymore (enter malicious complaince).

OP made the rules work in her favor.

Come July and August, I started complying, not staying during the week, unless I was giving notice that I would come late next day.

They didn’t like it but had no say in this since they made the rules.

And when asked about going 2-4 hours on saturday I would say yes, and work exactly 6 hours to get a paid leave day (9.5 hours).

Here’s how she used her paid leave days…

By september I had a few paid leave days and used them all on fridays, since they could not ask me by phone to come on saturday, so no saturdays.

They weren’t pleased either, because they had to pay overtime to other employes to get things done (as a side note, I never neglected my work, it was an “all hands on deck” situacion for many months, and they liked booking me since they didn’t have to pay me overtime).

When mid september rolls around, I gave my two weeks notice (got a better job), where like half of the days where paid leave days.

Hey I complied with the rules, it was petty at best, but I felt like I won the final round.

It sounds like they were only willing to compensate overtime with paid leave and were also trying to overwork OP so much that it was impossible to take the comp time. I’m glad she proved them wrong and took the comp time anyway even if they didn’t like it.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

One person points out why it’s a bad idea to work for free.

It really does sound like a horrible company.

Hopefully.

One person shares the overtime rules at their company.

If you’re told you’ll be paid for working overtime, you should be paid for working overtime.

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.