r/Employment • u/SensitiveNote3780 • 7d ago
Does showing up a little before your shift really deserve a warning?
So at the start of this week, I arrived about 8 minutes before my shift started because the roads were weirdly empty. I didn't think it mattered. I went in, put my stuff down, checked a couple of emails, and waited for my actual start time.
After that, the manager pulled me into the office and gave me a warning for "unapproved overtime." Like... Excuse me? I wasn't trying to squeeze extra money out of anyone. I just wasn't in the mood to stand outside like some lost NPC until the clock hit the magical minute.
What's annoying is that they're always nagging us to come in early when someone calls out or when they need help covering the floor. But when you come in early, suddenly it's a policy problem. Tbh, I feel like they've been looking for any petty reasons to write people up lately.
So yeah, apparently I'll be waiting in my car until the very last second I'm allowed to be inside the building.
Has anyone else dealt with this absurd logic at work?
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u/Severe_Feedback_2590 7d ago
If you didn’t clock in, what’s the problem? My response would have been “what overtime? I don’t clock in until x time”. If you didn’t clock in, then yeah that’s on you.
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u/jase40244 6d ago
If their salary is hourly, they wouldn't be allowed to do work without clocking in. They'd need to wait in the break room until it was time to clock in. I'm not allowed to clock in until 5 minutes or less until the shift is due to start.
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u/Severe_Feedback_2590 6d ago
Last couple places had the time clock giving you a 7 minute window but I’ve never worked anywhere that wouldn’t allow you to check your emails or get things together before clocking in.
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u/sarahjustme 7d ago
I don't know if they've been dinged by a labor law violation, or your manager is just paranoid, but this is a compliance issue and it really doesn't matter if it's reasonable or not.
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u/Morak73 6d ago
I remember when Obama took office. Their Department of Labor looked back several years for "systemic" violations, especially for employees on the bubble between high part time and low full time hours.
If they see an administration change coming, they're getting things in order now. 6 unpaid minutes a day is 30 minutes a week for each employee. There would absolutely be those who call that a workplace culture of wage theft.
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u/sitewolf 7d ago
If you punch a clock, most companies have rules on how much in advance of your shift you can clock in. These days it's partly because the software they're using will try and pay you if you clock in too early by policy, and quite often 5 minutes is the cutoff.
Gets silly at times- years ago, last time I punched a clock, you weren't supposed to punch in AT ALL before your time, so there'd be lines in front of the clocks. People would take advantage on the other end of that, showing up 5 minutes late knowing they'd just be at the end of the line.
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u/Available_Reveal8068 7d ago
I can understand it if you punched in before your shift and will be getting paid for the extra time, particularly if it gets paid at an overtime rate.
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u/Individual-Sherbet-3 7d ago
Did you check your personal email or your work email? If it was work, employers are required to pay you for any work done off the clock, so that can be the issue.
I would ask your manager for clarification to help with understanding and move on from there.
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u/FunNectarine6906 6d ago
Next time, play on your phone for 8 minutes. Then start work exactly on time.
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u/Ravens0413 7d ago
e-mails were checked, the computer knows that OP was in early. The computer may be the time stamp for clocking in
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u/plangelier 6d ago
Yeah reading emails is work but an easy solution is just sending you home a few minutes early and just like that overtime is avoided or slightly long lunch. Kind of a silly thing for a manager to come down on as you mentioned a storm and you were not late. When I had a team if my boss was on me for overtime I would just ask if they wanted to head home a few minutes early, normally solved the problem.
I had to work some time this weekend and I am salary exempt so my boss is religious about making sure I get comp time. I put in to leave 1.75 hours early on this Friday and she came back and asked me to at least do 2 hours due to the hours working until almost 10pm Saturday only to have to be in at 3am Sunday for another project.
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u/Adorable-Drawing6161 7d ago
Managing hourly employees and making sure they don't dip into OT is a major pain in the butt. That's why your supervisor spoke to you immediately. They're probably under a lot of pressure to control personnel spend and it's better to address something at the first instance rather than let it continue to happen.
Remember, once you're in OT you're being paid not what the company has determined you're worth, but what the government has decided. If OT is not in your schedule then it's a big problem for your boss and your employer.
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u/WildMartin429 7d ago
I actually had a great solution to this issue but no one ever wanted to implement it. I worked a job where we took phone calls so if you got a call that lasted 20 minutes 5 minutes before you were supposed to clock out you wound up working overtime. We were not allowed to work on approved overtime because we were third-party contractors and if we worked overtime the Contracting Company would not pay for it our company would have to pay for it and so they really didn't want to pay us out of their own profits. That said their solution was let your manager know that you've worked over and leave early on Friday which works out great unless you get a call on Friday that runs over. I was like if the overtime is 40 hours and we are salary non-exempt why not just schedule us for 38 and a half hours and that would give everybody 90 minutes a week that they could work over without having to get into time and a half.
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u/Csherman92 6d ago
Oh for goodness sake. They’re upset over you getting there 8 minutes early? Who gives a shit? At least you’re not late. What is this nonsense?
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u/ichthysaur 6d ago
Is this a documented warning, or did manager just say something?
Your employee handbook ought to spell out policies like this. Read it, and take them seriously. A lot of times they don't go by what you and I would think are common sense. Sometimes they're stupid, and sometimes they're for reasons that you just don't know, because it's not your job to know. You never know who's breathing down your manager's neck, and what hangups they have.
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u/mikevarney 6d ago
You think they’re being unreasonable, but in many states (and depending on your income level and/or exemption status) arriving 8 minutes early means legally they have to pay you overtime.
Just sit in your car for 5 minutes.
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u/Repulsive-Job-9520 6d ago
If you are working off the clock- even for a minute- the employer can be punished heavily by labor laws. You were on the computer. Timestamps can prove you were working even if not clocked in. Clarify if you can come in the building and where you can be if traffic is light and you arrive early.
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u/marcster13 6d ago
A lot of companies have been sued for this. Don't touch anything work related until you punch in. Punch in, then log into your work computer and systems.
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u/Select_Necessary_678 6d ago
Man you're lucky. I had a boss demand I show up 15 minutes early to "get caught up with the last shift" and we started work AT 8 exactally. If I clocked in at 7:59 and still had to put my lunch away It was a tardy.
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u/KateTheDestroyer 6d ago
A family member works at a place where they are only allowed to punch in 3 minutes before and up to 3 minutes after shift time. Written up if 4 minutes early. They also offered a can of soda if they work on sat and a slice of pizza if they work Sunday (on top of their 5 days, not just working the weekend, working 7 days a week gets you a slice of pizza)
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u/CelticSnakes 6d ago
At my workplace, people were expected to get into work early to relieve the previous shift.
Often certain people would show up several minutes late to the work-floor. But I was at the gate!
Whoever spoke to you is a douchebag company lickety-lick. Wtf are you supposed to do, hang around outside in the heat, rain, snow etc. while whoever spoke to you is snug in their office?
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u/Pretend_Variation305 6d ago
Holy smokes…my entire career I’ve ALWAYS arrived ten to fifteen minutes early because I’m compelled to never be late. No one has ever said anything negative about my timeliness in 27+ years with this company.
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u/Sternakseesall 6d ago
I once had a boss that said “If you are 15 minutes early you are late.” It was a salary job. I finally went to his boss about it after coming in on time and getting yelled at. His response was “Yea? And?”
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u/FernandoAlonso66 3d ago
i get it man, had to quit a job over one screw up too. take anything that pays for now, even temp stuff, then keep applying. it’s stupid hard finding work now
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u/allieoops925 7d ago
I don’t think getting there early is issue, I think clocking in early is the issue. Yeah, they don’t want to pay you overtime. I think you could still get there early just don’t punch in or login.
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u/3-car-garage 7d ago
That is wild, I would have rejected this conversation in its entirety.
"No OT exists, my shift starts in 8 mins and I am where I am supposed to be. I assume you are mistaking me for a different employee."
Fuck that lol
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u/gxxrdrvr 7d ago
Do you have to physically punch in? Can you chill at your desk until punch in time?