Overworked IT worker is denied overtime pay, he collects data to file a lawsuit against the company demanding compensation for all employees: 'Never mess with the IT guy’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Apr 5, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

It is unbelievable how companies treat IT employees, even though they know these employees pretty much carry the entire company on their shoulders. They have access to almost every important detail, and you would be surprised at how easy it would be for them to cause chaos for the entire company. The only thing they are asking in return for their hard work is to be appreciated and compensated. And still, you constantly hear of IT employees who are overworked and underpaid.

Much like the employee in this Reddit story. He worked day and night to make sure everything in the company was up and running but still was constantly denied proper compensation. He got no raise, no overtime pay, and not even an extra employee to help him out. Until one day he had enough and decided to find a better job. But before he left, he made sure that the company got what it deserved, and helped all the employees in the company to collect data to prove that they were entitled to overtime pay from the company.

Scroll down to read the full story. After that, click here for a story of two roommates who force their third roommate out of the apartment.

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  • 01
    "Never mess with the IT guy"
    via Canva
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    Not going to pay overtime? Think again.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    TL:DR Don't mess with the IT guy. I was discussing this sub with a good friend, and he said, "Boy, have I got a story that'll fit." It wasn't his story, but his
    via u/PJMurphy
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    brother's, and I sat with him and got the details. Buckle up, it's a good one...and a long one. Let's call him "Bob". Bob has been fiddling with computers since he was a kid, and knows
    via u/PJMurphy
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    them pretty well. As with most IT people, he's moved from job to job. The employer he worked for was a service/distribution company, and there were two IT employees. The company was located in Ontario, Canada.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    About three years ago, Bob's employer decided to modernize their software. They had separate programs for Dispatching, for Inventory, for Payroll and Finances, and it was
    via u/PJMurphy
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    complicated moving information from one program to the other. They decided to get an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) program, and Bob recommended one that he knew inside-out from a previous employer.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    For those of you who don't know, an ERP program handles everything. Purchase orders. Sales. Inventory. Personnel. Vendors. Customers. All of it. You can run a report and find
    via u/PJMurphy
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    out which customer has bought the most Part ABC in the last year. Which salesman has improved his numbers the most. Which vendor has the fastest delivery time. Which shipper packed the most orders.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    Everyone in the company used the ERP program, but it was very complicated, and they used the aspects of it that related to their position. For example, the Receiver would accept a shipment, verify the quantity,
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    confirm it was received...and the inventory stats would be available to the Sales people if they wanted to look up how many were on hand. The Receiver didn't care what the price was, or who the vendor was, he just did his job.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    Bob was run ragged during the implementation process, but he managed to train most of the employees on their aspects, and after a few months, everything was running fairly smoothly.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    Bob still got tickets for tweaks in the operation of the software, and occasional hardware IT issues. Then the company decided to expand their footprint and was marketing into different time zones.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    That messed things up. Atlantic Canada is 90 minutes early, so if someone sent an email or an order at 8am their time, it would arrive at 6:30am Ontario time. Pacific Canada is 3 hours late....so an email sent at 3pm
    via u/PJMurphy
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    Vancouver time would arrive at 6pm. This stretched out the day, so many staff came in early and worked late. Bob would arrive at 8am and there would be people that demanded his immediate
    via u/PJMurphy
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    assistance, and were annoyed that he didn't respond instantly, even though their request was submitted before his start time. Same with late in the day...his phone would ring at dinnertime with people that wanted help right now.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    They decided to stagger his and his IT colleague's shift times, Bob would start at 6am and work till 2:30, and his colleague would start at 10:30am and work till 7pm. Bob's colleague had kids, and refused the shift change. The employer insisted. The colleague quit.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    That meant that Bob was the only person in the IT department. The employer said they would look to hire a new IT guy, but they had trouble finding one that knew the ERP system....and they were offering well under a market value salary.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    Bob asked for a raise and was denied. Then he wanted overtime, and the employer told him that as an IT specialist, he was exempt from overtime laws in Ontario. Bob looked it up, and the employer was correct.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    This went on for some time, and he knew lots of IT people socially. They told him what the company was offering, and Bob know that they wouldn't find another tech.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    Things went downhill from there. Bob would get chewed out if he missed a call or an email, no matter what time it came in. He had to train new hires in the ERP system, as well as take care of the hardware.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    He asked repeatedly for better compensation, and was denied....so he planned to get a new job. Now here's the revenge. Bob had access to the entirety of the ERP program. When a user
    via u/PJMurphy
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    signed in, the time was logged, and even if they didn't sign out, after 15 minutes it would log them out anyway. Everyone in the company was on salary, and many of them came in early and stayed late. Ontario labour law states that even salaried
    via u/PJMurphy
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    workers are entitled to overtime after 44 hours a week, unless they were Managers or Supervisors. So Bob jumped into the program and ran a report for
    via u/PJMurphy
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    each employee that wasn't a Manager. All the way back to when the ERP program was started. Then he reached out to an employment lawyer and got the okay to refer employees to him.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    Bob lined up another job, and after he left, every employee in the company got an email with an Excel sheet showing the hours they had put in past 44 hours a week. The subject line said "You're Legally Entitled to Overtime Pay" In the body of the email was the lawyer's name.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    The I hit the fan. Almost every employee authorized the lawyer to negotiate with the company on their behalf, and the company had to pay a ton of money.
    via u/PJMurphy
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    All the company had to do was pay Bob for the extra work he put in. Instead, they had to pay almost everyone.
    via u/PJMurphy

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job tales-from-the-workplace reddit story lawsuit IT guy overworked-employees workplace Reddit company funny
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