'Imma get fired LOL [worth it]' : Shady management tries to pull a fast one, law student employee hits them with legal knowledge that epically shuts it down

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Apr 9, 2023 1:00 PM EDT

Many people during their college years take a job to cover their expenses while they study for their eventual full-time career. For example, you don't need a 4 year degree to wait tables or deliver pizza, so you pick up this kind of service industry job while you continue your education in something that does require multiple years of education like a doctor or lawyer. 

Yes, that's right, even future lawyers work in service industry while they're in school (except for like rich nepo-babies..). And for any toxic manager out there, we hope you hire a law student and get your tush served back to you when you try to pull some illegal crap on your hardworking employees. This is exactly what happened with Reddit poster u/Old-Invite3028. The Redditor is in law school and working a side gig as they take their classes. The manager tried to pull some a shady fast one and said if employees continued to not clock in or out properly, there would be financial punishment. 

This law student epically messaged back with out any care in the world saying, "I swear I'm not trying to be obtuse but I'm in law school so whatever, the withholding of wages for the reason of disciplinary action is illegal." BOOM. They didn't share their management's response, but the Redditor knew it wasn't going to be pretty and didn't even care. 

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  • 01
    Font - oday at 9:02 PM 4 Updates Ladies and Gents this is starting as of today. I get it we all forget ever so often to clock in or out, but going forward if you consistently forget I will forget to pay you till the following payroll. To me one of the most important things is clocking my time in and clocking my time out. I cannot make it any easier!!! Just do it. Like Seen Comment 3 Comments = I swear I'm not trying to be obtuse but im in law school so whatever, the withholding of wages for the
    via u/Old-Invite3028
  • 02
    Font - gedwolfe 6 days ago I am in a management position that has had some issues. I literally told my team "Please make sure you clock in and out correctly or when I do payroll I might make a mistake and then we have to do a bunch of bullsh: to fix it so please don't forget." And I never had an issue again. Like its not hard to be foking nice.
    via u/gedwolfe
  • 03
    Font - Reverend_Lazerface 6 days ago This is exactly what i was told by a manager I respected when I started out and it's exactly why I learned to take clocking in and out seriously. No threats, just "Bro you're making my job harder please stop"
    via u/Reverend_Lazerface
  • 04
    Font - ertri 6 days ago If you're a good boss, your subordinates will want to avoid messing with you because they don't hate you. So it all works.
    via u/ertri
  • 05
    Font - MyDisappointed Dad 6 days ago . For us it's mainly forgetting to punch in or out for lunch, but management said "hey as long as you pretend like you did, the system will flag an odd amount of punches. But please dont forget cuz it still takes more time and paperwork." Or for me, occasionally punching in again when I meant to punch out, but then I warn them that I goofed, so they get a heads up before the system says I worked 36 hours straight.
    via u/MyDisappointedDad
  • 06
    Font - BrigadierPickles 6 days ago · edited 6 days ago . At my job we punch in and out on our phones using an app. On a regular basis someone will have only one punch for the day when there should be 4. Punch in at start of shift punch out at start of lunch punch in when returning to work punch out when leaving work
    via u/BrigadierPickles
  • 07
    Font - You'll look at some people's timesheets and they'll have 4-8 punches for the entire week. Management then needs to track them down on the weekend and manually update and fix their timesheets so they get paid right. So when management announced that they'll be financial consequences going forward as they stop spending their weekend fixing time sheets, everyone who couldn't bothered to attempt to punch in correctly raised up pitchforks screaming, "THAT'S ILLEGAL!!!!!" They had to be sat dow
    via u/BrigadierPickles
  • 08
    Font - acu2005 6 days ago They had to be sat down and explained that they are are saying it's illegal to pay someone the exact amount of hours they reported working. That no lawyer will take their case when they explain that. I'm no lawyer but I'm betting they would have a strong case if the company tried to under pay them repeatedly. FLSA lays out that it's not the companies responsibility not the employees to track how much the person worked and the company is clearly admitting they know the p
    via u/acu2005
  • 09
    Font - madempress 6 days ago One company I worked for used ADP but the nature of the business meant we didn't have computers, so you HAD to use your phone unless you were a manager. My punches were constantly getting dropped (didn't seem to matter if it was Wi-Fi or data) but my manager made it clear that he held it against me, having to fix it multiple times a week.
    via u/madempress
  • 10
    Font - T3HN3RDY1 6 days ago What do you want them to do, you literately aren't reporting your worked time It's a grey area, and of course ideally everyone would report this consistently, but the ACTUAL answer is that as a manager you are legally obligated to make every attempt to pay people for every minute that they worked. Not every minute that they REPORTED they worked, but every minute that they worked. While, obviously there is some shared blame, as the manager, you are expected to manage t
    via u/T3HN3RDY1
  • 11
    Font - The process you should be using when people aren't punching in is documentation and disciplinary action, same as when people don't do anything else they're supposed to do for their job. I am a manager, and one of my people sometimes forgets to clock in/out. I do have to track her down sometimes to remind her. If it gets too bad, it will be a disciplinary action. Never will I say "I won't make every attempt to pay you for the time you worked." Yes, it is more work to make sure my people ge
    via u/T3HN3RDY1
  • 12
    Font - mydogbaxter 7 days ago · edited 6 days ago I have had several employees that have trouble remembering to clock in or out. They're not bad at their job, they just don't remember. Usually multiple times a pay period. I could try to roll it to the next period but on the next one, I'll have to pay the back wages, the current wages, and then remember to roll that week's mistakes forward too. It would be a never ending cycle. And the truth is, I'd still be guessing on their hours so I might as
    via u/mydogbaxter
  • 13
    Font - shawster 6 days ago I can't stress this enough, and I'm even one of those employees who sucks with clocking in and out. In my defense, I have worked freelance my entire life until this hourly job, but it still pays ok, and the clocking app (ADP) is horrible, especially when connecting remotely, which I am like half of the time at least. But I have learned to just track my time carefully. I have records of the first email I have sent each morning, or when I had to work late at night, etc.
    via u/shawster
  • 14
    Font - When I started to keep better track of my hours, I started realizing I was working like 10 extra hours easily each pay period I wasn't getting paid... with overtime it makes a few hundred dollars per pay check. It's wild. I appreciate my boss letting me kind of "provide the receipts" at the end of my payroll, they aren't concerned or whatever.
    via u/shawster
  • 15
    Font - 4ever_lost 6 days ago It's also to know who is on site during a fire drill, or an actual fire. If you forgot to clock in, someone ain't gonna come looking for you. If you forgot to clock out, someone might come looking for you and get caught in the fire while you're driving home. 425 Reply Share GalaxyMiPelotas 6 days ago And if the time clock is on fire, the firefighters go home. ↑ 19 ↓ Reply Share
    via u/forever_lost
  • 16
    Font - SloviXXX 6 days ago . A manager can modify an employee's time card but it needs to be confirmed in writing by the employee that an adjustment needs to be made first. Email to employee: "Hey Steve you have missed punches on 3/3/23 can you please reply with your accurate punches for that day so I can correct them for you" Email from employee: "Sorry about that John, looks like I forgot to clock back in after lunch. I returned from lunch at 12:32pm and finished work for the day at 3:32pm"
    via u/SloviXxX
  • 17
    Font - Optional reply from manager: "Thanks Steve, I went ahead and corrected your time card. Please make sure to verify your punches are correct every day prior to ending your shift. I know things get hectic sometimes but it's important to me that you are paid properly. If you're having issues with the app please let me know asap so we can make sure we get it fixed." I managed a team of 40. FT/PT mix and correcting time cards was something that I had to do all the time.
    via u/SloviXxX
  • 18
    Font - I'd just like to throw it out there that alot of people don't know if you don't make sure your time card is correct the system will make assumptions and they are 90% of the time not in your favor and if no one catches the mistake until you see your check you have to wait till the following pay period in most cases to get paid the correction. A good manager will have a management system in place to prevent this from happening. I never understood how people can't clock in and out properly p
    via u/SloviXxX

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shady-managment law school antiwork employee fired toxic-workplace toxic-management law-student epic-response workplace Reddit shady-manager service industry
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