In union jobs, policies are meant to protect workers, though leadership often resents it when those rules get used properly.

So when a grocery store cashier was told by the incompetent HR rep that “union policy” meant he couldn’t get holiday pay anymore, he calmly pointed out another part of that same policy that she clearly missed.

Suddenly, he found himself with a lot more bargaining leverage.

Keep reading for the full story.

Used the union guidelines to outsmart an HR woman

When I was a senior in high school, I started working as a cashier at a grocery store.

While this was not my first job, it was my first one where I was part of a union and learned about some of the pros and cons of unions (mostly pros like regular raises, breaks, holiday pay, etc.).

From the start, this employee got a weird vibe from HR.

We had a woman there who was basically our human resources person, and we did not get along from even before I worked there. I will call her Sally.

I came in for my interview and Sally was not there and had left work for the day.

I remember apologizing and saying, “I must have mixed up the days. Is there any way you can find out which is the correct day for my interview?”

Regardless, the employee was hired and got on with his work.

But the manager on duty advised me that I was correct, as they had checked the calendar in her office and she had written it down.

So he, the front-end supervisor, and the other manager who came in to start his shift all interviewed and hired me instead.

Turns out, the HR lady’s career had recently hit a few snags.

I later heard from the grapevine that she was working two locations and really wanted to be hired full-time at a larger store, which would have been a promotion for her.

Instead, she was placed full-time at our location only and didn’t get promoted.

Her missing my interview was the final nail in the coffin for her, as this was just one of a long list of mistakes she made.

She seemed to really have it out for him.

She was always making excuses for why I couldn’t put in to be transferred to another department when they were hiring people for those departments like bakery or deli.

She kept me as a cashier even though it was lower pay.

Even so, I came back to work there over my winter break for college (I had gone away to college instead of commuting) and also summer break.

Here is where my malicious compliance comes in.

The union has special rules put in place to protect the employees.

Our union states that after a waiting period (I believe it was 3 months) we get “holiday pay” for working Sundays and holidays. It was time and a half.

We also are entitled to a raise every 6 months.

Being away at college is not supposed to affect that since we join the union before leaving and come back on our breaks.

We still owe our dues during those times when we are still part of the union but away at school.

But soon the employee noticed these rules weren’t being honored.

I got my first paycheck stub for the summer and noticed I did not get my holiday pay for working that Sunday nor my raise.

I spoke with a coworker who advised me to speak with the store manager.

He was one of the ones that interviewed me and always looked after his staff, since we were between union reps at the time.

He was a born problem solver and told me right away he could fix the payroll error for me.

He also made sure that I would not only get the proper wage from now on but that I would get the back pay for the time I should have gotten the raise but didn’t.

The rest, of course, fell to Sally.

As far as the holiday pay though, that had to be taken care of by Sally since she was in HR.

He suggested we go see if she was free and speak with her.

Sally was not sympathetic at all.

She just spoke to the both of us in a condescending tone about how this was union policy and that I had to start all over again with seniority.

She said that I had to earn that holiday pay again by being there for 3 months.

He pointed out, as did I, that I was getting this holiday pay before leaving for college and even over the winter break that I had worked.

According to Sally, her hands were tied.

But she just kept saying to me, “It’s union policy.”

My manager calmly tried to negotiate with her and get her to correct it.

He even stated that other employees had not had to go through this.

I finally just raised my hand to silence them both.

The employee wants to make sure he’s understanding this all correctly.

“Okay, so you are saying that I can’t get my holiday pay even though I was before I left to go back to college at the end of January, due to union policy, correct?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said with a long dramatic sigh that was meant to say, “Like I have been telling you.”

Sally had no idea what she had just set into motion.

I nodded, grinned, and stated, “But union policy also states that I don’t have to work holidays or Sundays and that I can’t be penalized for refusing to do so, correct?”

My manager grinned at me like he was very proud of me as he saw exactly where this was going.

“Well, um yes that is true,” Sally said, looking a bit nervous.

“Okay well then, here is the compromise: since union policy states that I can’t get the holiday pay for working Sundays and holidays, for the rest of the summer, I will not work any Sundays or holidays and per union policy, I am allowed to do this,” I said with a shrug.

And just like that, Sally’s demeanor completely changed.

She immediately started laying on the charm about how I am such a “great worker” and that they “really need me to be there to help out with Sundays and holidays.”

But I pointed out that they had plenty of other employees who were getting the holiday pay that they count on.

I said I would be glad to return to working holidays and Sundays once I got my holiday pay for doing so.

This led to some big changes in the schedule.

My manager commented that he and I needed to change the schedule.

He casually mentioned how this was going to be hard as he now had to take me off for next Sunday and Monday (as that Monday was Memorial Day).

It was already Thursday, but he said the store would just have to make it work if they couldn’t find anyone willing to come in.

Once she had left for the day, he called me upstairs to his office to help with the schedule since I had to work so many days each week.

Turns out, the manager got quite the kick out of his antics.

I walked in to find him and another manager there grinning ear to ear.

They told me how proud they were of me for how I handled that situation.

On Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, I got a call asking if I could come in because they had other people call out sick who were scheduled.

I just calmly explained that I was no longer working Sundays or holidays and that Sally could explain why.

And Sally didn’t survive much longer at the store either.

Before the end of the summer, she found a new position and quit.

The new HR person was much nicer.

One of the first things she did was make sure I and a few other college students who had similar issues with the holiday pay got our holiday pay reinstated.

When I requested about a transfer to another department, she gladly asked around and had me put in the health and beauty aids department that same week.

And that’s how you use the fine print to your advantage!

What did Reddit think?

To one-up an HR person, sometimes you just have to speak their language.

This commenter thinks unions should be much more widespread!

Having a union helps, but employees still need to be savvy to avoid getting taken advantage of.

This commenter can’t stress the importance of actually understanding the contracts you sign.

If HR wants to quote the rulebook, they should at least properly read it first!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.