Imagine being hired at a company for one role but taking it upon yourself to also get trained to handle another role, that way you can be extra helpful when meeting with clients. That also means that you might spend more time with clients and might work overtime. Would you be upset if the owner refused to pay you overtime since the role you were hired for doesn’t get overtime pay?

In this story, one sales rep is in that situation. He is also trained as tech support, but the owner doesn’t think he should be paid overtime since sales reps don’t get overtime.

Keep reading to see how the sales rep convinces the owner to change his mind.

Company refuses to pay me overtime, I left jobsite with job incomplete and client unhappy.

I worked as a sales rep for a company in the technology field. Two way radios and alarms to be specific.

Said company never had enough technical staff so I started training myself, and asked our lead technician to teach me to program and sort out minor problems, as well as do installations.

Which was nice, since I was doing client visits 1-4 times a month, depending on how big the client was, and then I could sort out problems while I was on site.

It seemed like everything was great and everyone was happy with the situation.

I ended up doing most of my client’s installations, and the manager of the technical department was happy cause its less work for him, and he knows I do the jobs properly cause I want to keep my clients happy.

Accordingly he had no problem signing my timesheets and overtime hours as well.

OT was around 10-20 hours a month, so 2-5 hours a week. Which I think was a great deal considering I was doing the jobs of 2 people actually.

But the owner wasn’t happy, and now OP isn’t happy either.

It went well for a few months until one day just before payday I get called in by the MD/owner. He had my timesheets for the past few months infront of him. He asked me what they were, and I gave him an explanation.

He scratched my OT out, saying sales reps don’t get paid OT.

I tried to explain to him why I was claiming OT, and that he can ask the tech manager, but he was having none of it.

I was mad as it was a little extra money, but whatever.

He decided to stop working overtime.

About a week later I was at a client about 160km(100mi) from the office. We had an big installation and was almost done except for programming and tidying up some cables.

I checked the time, and told the apprentice technician to pack up.

He was like but we are not done with the job.

I told him I don’t care, I don’t get paid OT, its 2pm and its still a 2 hour drive back to the office.

The client understood, but the owner didn’t.

We packed up, client comes out and I gave him the explanation, saying we will be back the following morning(to finish what was effectively 30-45min of work)

Client wasn’t happy, but understands that I don’t get paid to work late.

I was on the road about 15min when my phone rings. It was the owner(same one that said I don’t get paid OT) he asked what was I doing and why I wasn’t finishing the job, as the client was not happy.

I told him the explanation above, and then I said that he said I don’t get paid overtime, so I’m not working late, and will drive back to finish tomorrow.

The owner must have realized this was all his fault.

Silence for about 5 seconds as I assume he realised I was following his express instructions, and there was nothing he could do.

He told me to go back and finish the job and we can talk about it later.

I told him no, unless he pays me OT.

He says he will.

A promise over the phone wasn’t good enough. OP wanted it in writing.

I tell him to put it in an email before I will turn back.

I could hear him go red in the face, he said he will send it now.

I switched on my laptop, connected my dongle(this was still before smart phones and email on out phones). A few minutes later the email came through, We turned around and finished the job.

I got paid my overtime, and never again was there a query over my timesheets or hours booked. I was the only rep out of 5 that got paid overtime.

He worked that out perfectly! He was more than just a sales rep. He deserved overtime.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who is told to work a holiday without overtime pay, and how they ended up getting their money.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Yes, always get it in writing.

Here’s some more praise for how he handled the situation.

This is a good point!

I hope so too!

His boss clearly learned the hard way, and quickly, that OP deserved overtime pay. It wasn’t sales that was causing him to work overtime. He was trained for two jobs. If they want him to do the tech side of things, they need to pay him for it.

He did a great job standing up for himself.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.