'My colleagues are all 8am until 5:30pm. My contract is for 9 to 5pm': HR makes a mistake with new employee's contract, employee refuses to let them change it

Author image for Ben Weiss
Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 19, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

If HR makes a mistake like this, that's on them, not the employee! Employees are expected to be diligent in their paperwork, so shouldn't we expect the same from our managers and HR staff when they're drafting our employment contracts? There are so many instances as employees where we are expected to own our mistakes and stick with them. Let this story serve as a friendly reminder to all the horrible bosses out there because folks, it's a two-way street!

 

 

This thread was posted to Reddit by u/Excellent-Ostrich908, who shared that after joining a new company as an IT worker, he realized that his hours were ever so slightly different than those of his colleagues. It turns out that the HR lady who drafted his contract had only been working at the company for a week and no one double-checked her work. She explicitly wrote down that his hours were 9am-5pm rather than 8am-5:30pm.

 

 

When the employee's boss started to raise this as a problem, the employee was quick to show him a copy of his contract. The reality is that there's nothing they can do about it, and thankfully this worker lives outside of the US, so according to folks in the comments section, he is way more protected. 

 

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions. When you're finished, feel free to take a look at this similar story about an employee's malicious compliance regarding bringing donuts to the office.

Advertisement
  • 01
    Product - "My workplace Screwed up my contract in my favor"
    via Gabrielle Henderson
  • 02
    Font - My workplace screwed up my contract in my favour.... Would you change it? I work in IT. After my old place had a bunch of layoffs, I have landed in a place that is pretty good and I've enjoyed it ok so far. I was interviewed by my bosses boss and was offered the job fairly quickly.
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 03
    Font - They passed over my details to HR to deal with the contract for signing and on boarding me. I always noticed that people were in the office later than I was and I thought it was a bit weird but I never said anything.
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 04
    Font - However after a conversation I found that my contract has substantially less hours than everyone else in my team. My colleagues are all 8am until 5:30pm. My contract is for 9 to 5pm with a 1 hour lunch. Doesn't sound like a lot but it actually works out at 30 hours less a month roughly. My boss who I like said that my hours I work should be 830 to 530 but I said no,
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 05
    Font - that was the contract I signed so unless I was needed for something that needed overtime, which happens occasionally, I would be sticking to my agreed hours. So he dropped it but seemed a bit put out, but I do feel a bit guilty because it's obviously been an error because it was the HR lady's first week and she didn't do the contract properly and I genuinely like my colleagues. Would you change your contract for camaraderie or stick to your guns?
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 06
    Font - dsdvbguutres 2 days ago Lol your boss can kick rocks. Who the in their right mind lets an employee who is with the company for 1 week make a contract and lets that contract get executed without reviewing it first? 3.0k Reply Share
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 07
    Font - OneMoreDog 2 days ago Unless they push back more and would consider a redundancy/severance over this I'd just leave it. Sounds perfect. 644 Reply Share
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 08
    Font - Excellent-Ostrich908 OP. 2 days ago. edited 2 days ago Unlikely they could sever me over it because they have decent workers rights where I live, compared to places like America anyway. 422 Reply Share
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 09
    Rectangle - Just SomeDude13. 1 day ago Oh, you're not in the US? Yeah, you're probably fine. 192 Reply Share
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 10
    Font - borisallen49 2 days ago . Would you change it? Let me think about that for a moment...ok, thought about it: no, no I wouldn't. Well, if they want to exchange a higher salary for the additional hours, then maybe. OP, not that you should feel guilty at all in the first place, but do you know what salaries your co-workers are on? They could be getting paid substantially more than you in the first place. 242 Reply Share
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 11
    Font - pasty_white-boy12345. 2 days ago If this is a salaried position oh what a glorious mistake it is!!!!!!!! 159 Reply Share Excellent-Ostrich908 OP. 1 day ago Yes I'm salaried. 63 Reply Share
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 12
    Font - MuchDevelopment7084 1 day ago no. If you made a mistake. They'd make you stick with it. 101 Reply Share
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 13
    Font - aZamaryk 2 days ago What's the problem? They agreed to the contract and surely someone read it before a company representative signed it, right? If it's been approved I don't see what the problem is. They wrote the contract and they approved it. Why not just play dumb and work your hours?
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 14
    Font - AMonkeyAndALavaLamp. 1 day ago I'd change it if I needed more money, but no way in I'd let them change the hours in my contract without changing my pay as well.
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 15
    Font - platypusbelly 2 days ago Depends. Do you think they'll end up terminating you for this eventually? Then you might want to consider giving in. However, make them pay you to do so. You're getting an extra 30 hours of work each month, and you should be compensated for that accordingly.
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 16
    Font - Excellent-Ostrich908 OP. 2 days ago I live in a country with a lot of workers rights compared to America so they can't really terminate me without a good reason.
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 17
    Font - leafxfactor1967 - 1 day ago Be a good employee and a great coworker....other than that, it's a them problem.
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 18
    Font - brsox2445 1 day ago Contracts exist for a reason. If they want to modify the contract, then they can offer a new contract. But they must understand that you are in absolutely no obligation to accept modifications to the existing contract.
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908
  • 19
    Font - Grid Link0 2 days ago If it is any consolation you'd be getting the same push back if you'd negotiated for the lower hours. I actually did that negotiated a 8am to 5:30pm job into a 9-5 with 1 hour for lunch. Once they started getting more people in that didn't bother to negotiate they started putting pressure on me with the "Everyone else is starting earlier/staying later", to which I held to my guns because they were doing that as that was their contract, mine reduced my work hours I wa
    via u/Excellent-Ostrich908

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

boss workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job work Office Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit toxic-work-environment
Scroll Down For The Next Article