'My hours were suddenly gone': Upper management revoke fast food worker's hours despite being in violation of company policy; worker demands reinstatement

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Sep 6, 2023 1:00 PM EDT

Call me biased, but managers are never 'in the wrong'. It is always the employees who get written up for their manager's mistakes, and this story is as infuriatingly accurate to that statement as it gets.

Why upper management punishes its workers via breaking the law is beyond me, but not enough workers are suing them for it, so until they do, management continues to get away with it. In this frustrating case, the OP was working at a fast food place in Oregon for about 9 months, when one day, her hours suddenly 'disappeared'.

She imagined that it was an accident or something. Why else would they revoke her hours? Well, OP was engaging in a relationship with one of the managers. At first glance, you might think, 'Ohhh, so that is why', except no, because you cannot just revoke an employee's hours without a hearing, it is literally against the law!

Not only that, but the manager in question was somebody who used to work at the fast food place, then quit, and was rehired. OP began her relationship with him while he wasn't working there, and according to company policy, he was supposed to let the company know when he was rehired. Except, he didn't. And of course, who got in trouble? Not him, that is for sure. To find out how the events unfolded, and how OP got her hours back via compliance, scroll down. Next up, an overworked hotel employee got back at an annoying guest who demanded 'breakfast be on time'.

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  • 01
    Chair
    via @Canva
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/myBlanketsD8 21 hours ago Well, you hired my manager after we were already together?
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 03
    Font - So this is my favorite story of malicious compliance from my own workplace. I was working in fast food at the time (overnights under golden arches) and I had been working there about 9 months at the time.
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 04
    Font - Now I had started talking to someone who used to work there as a manager after this person quit. This person decided to come back a few months later, but by that time, we were engaging in a S I relationship.
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 05
    Font - Fast forward 6 months me and this manager had been on and off a few times but this person was a manager on my shift the entire time. Now I had never notified the company of our on/off or relationship to begin with, assuming this person did
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 06
    Font - upon hiring and that the company didn't need constant notification of our on/off. At this point though (6mo later) my hours disappeared. I thought it was an accident on the schedule at first, and my main manager would
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 07
    Font - authorize me clocking on anyways(I was a good employee and they needed the body.) The worst part about what I was scheduled was 9pm-3am on the only two days I had left out of my availability. This meant I had no way to
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 08
    Font - get home (I ride the bus) and I couldn't legally be scheduled out of my availability in the first place. (It's Oregon they can ask you to prove your availability but they can't schedule you outside of it unless you have already failed to prove it)
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 09
    Font - Eventually managers from other shifts began telling my managers and I it was because of said relationship. My shift's managers were also told any manger would be written up if they authorized me clocking on when I wasn't scheduled.
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 10
    Font - When I texted my GM about it, I was sent the relationship policy. While it did include that management needed to be notified, it also stated that new hires were responsible for notifying management of all relationships, not pre- existing staff members.
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 11
    Font - At this point I was pretty point blank stating we were in a s I relationship when they were hired and if my hours were not reinstated, I would apply for underemployment and report them for h I also threw my manager under the bus here saying t.
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 12
    Font - they should be the one in trouble here not me, because I was a bit irritated they hadn't notified the company upon rehiring. The GM told me a meeting would need to be scheduled with the regional manager, but made no attempts(from
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 13
    Font - my perspective) to make that happen. GM also offered to switch me to days for less pay or to another store with the same pay cut, I denied this because I would quit before working days in fast food again or taking a pay
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 14
    Font - cut because someone else didn't do their job. My hours didn't come back the following week either. I believe the main overnight manager was in vacation that week, so cue malicious compliance. I worked the
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 15
    Font - hours I was scheduled and not a minute more. They called me twice that week asking me to come in and help with cleaning. I said no I don't want to get anyone in trouble for working unauthorized hours.
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 16
    Font - The GM had to come in at 3 in the morning and do my usual deep cleaning tasks because nobody there knew how. I didn't hear another word about it but my hours were back and within my
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 17
    Font - availability again the next week. I quit and so did my managers about 3 months later, but it felt nice to get this win.
    via u/myBlanketsD8
  • 18
    Font - Vitogodfather 18 hr. ago This sounds like you definitely could have sued them and probably should have contacted an employment lawyer. ↑ Vote Reply Share
    via u/Vitogodfather
  • 19
    Font - exus 14 hr. ago · Stories like this are such a tease. Let me show them how maliciously I complied! Leaves maliciousness on the table 4 Vote Reply Share
    via u/exus
  • 20
    Font - lpreams 7 hr. ago *My employer broke the law and didn't give me what I was legally owed, but then when I threatened them, they pinkie-promised not to do it again, so I let it slide." Vote Reply Share
    via u/lpreams
  • 21
    Font - pukui7 17 hr. ago Amid the sizzle of burgers and the scent of fresh-cut french fries, OP caught her manager's gaze from across the counter. Their eyes met for just a moment, but it was enough to send a warmth through OP that rivaled the deep fryer.
    via u/pukui7
  • 22
    Font - Every time he salted a batch of fries, the aroma filled the air, reminding her of their late-night talks, wrapped in the comforting scent of shared dreams and fried potatoes. For them, love wasn't on the menu, but it was undoubtedly in the air. ↑ Vote Vote Reply Share
    via u/pukui7
  • 23
    Font - kaljalava666 16 hr. ago What's up with the notifying your employee about your relationship status and rule against dating other employees in the US (I assume this happened in the US because I have heard this thing before)
    via u/kaljalava666
  • 24
    Font - chatterbox586 - 16 hr. ago It's more common to have a rule against managers dating someone they're managing so another coworker can't claim that the manager is favoring the person they're dating.
    via u/chatterbox586

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Tags

cleaning manager shifts malicious compliance oregon company policy coworkers malicious-compliance-reddit upper management relationships violation work-hours on-the-clock fast food employment
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