Sometimes, being late to work just can’t be helped, especially thanks to those pesky train strikes or your alarm simply not going off.
But some companies clearly take this issue very seriously, with one deciding to take extreme lengths to teach their late-running staff members a lesson.
In a video posted on TikTok, someone has shared their company’s newest policy that aims to penalise employees for coming into work late.
But upon closer inspection, it looks like they didn’t quite think the new rule all the way through.
The policy punishes employees for being just a minute late. (Getty Stock Photo)
Callie, known as @_cal_cifer, is a content creator on the social media platform and shared a screenshot of the policy and recorded her reaction to it, revealing why the company might be in trouble after implementing it.
Other users also shared their annoyance at the unnamed business having almost no problem in finding ways to cut labour laws and essentially do something illegal in such a blatant way.
The American content creator introduces the viral video, which has over 185k views, by calling the segment ‘Companies Must Be on Crack’ – catchy.
In the background is the image of a paper notice put up by the employer in question, which she begins to read: “NEW OFFICE RULE, For every minute you are late for work, you will be required to work for 10minutes after 6pm. For example, if you arrive at 10:02, you will have to stay an extra minutes until 6:20pm.”
And at the end of the notice is one of the most passive aggressive uses of the word ‘thanks’ you’ll have ever seen.
The rule left several viewers furious. (Tiktok/@_cal_cifer)
It is a bizarre rule that would be sure to send most workplaces into riot, as Callie stated: “I don’t know what you’re thanking me for because I would literally never do that.”
Admittedly, the suggestion that they’re ready to penalise you by 10 times the amount you’re late for is quite ridiculous, which is what has got Callie and other viewers so fired up.
She asked: “First off, how do you equate a minute to 10 minutes?
“Like the policy would be insane enough as is if it was one minute for one minute, but the fact that you’re saying for every individual minute that you are late, you have to work ten extra minutes? [That] makes this absolutely insane.”
Callie also highlighted that management probably aren’t going to follow these same rules, making it even more unfair on employees.
“If my shift is 10 to 6, and I show up at 10:02, I’m still leaving at 6. Maybe the absolute latest I would leave would be 6:02,” she claimed.
But the glaring issue here was pointed out – overtime pay.
If hourly employees were to follow this rule, they could be pushed to work beyond the 8-hour working day, which would earn them more money.
“Is this company completely comfortable with paying all of this sudden overtime?” she asked.
“Because they’re forcing employees to stay 20, 30, 40 minutes over? Because they were four minutes late for work? We’ll see how long this lasts.”
In theory, you could arrive six minutes late to receive an hour of overtime pay, or if you have no plans that evening, 12 minutes late to earn two hours of overtime pay.
Working late might not be the worst thing for hourly employees. (Getty Stock Photo)
Users in the comments think they found a loophole though, as one said: “Easy fight. I show up 3 min early and and leave 30 minutes early.”
Another put: “So then it works both ways right? If I start 15 minutes early I get to leave 2.5 hours (150 minutes) early, right?”
A third posted: “I’d be 5 mins late every day and rake in that OT. They’d change that policy real quick.”
According to law firm Morgan & Morgan though, there are explicit labour laws when it comes to shift times, and what this employer is doing could actually be illegal if they don’t compensate for it.
Their official site reads: “Your employer cannot force you to stay longer than your scheduled shift to end it or stay against your will,
“However, an employer does have the right to ask you to stay beyond your shift, and you are free to do so as long as you are being compensated for it.”