'I can make it work': Employee finds a loophole in strict new clocking system, forcing management to pay him 3x overtime than any other employee

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 6, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

This is not the first time, and definitely not the last, that we've complained about how some workplaces use ridiculous methods to track their employees' work hours. We claimed multiple times that we believe that employees should not be forced to track their work hours unless they are paid by the hour. If they should work from 9 to 5, their employer should assume they are mature enough to actually work those hours. A system built on trust is much better than a strict one with too many rules to follow. If employers or even employees have a problem with that, maybe they are in the wrong place.

Unfortunately, most workplaces do not agree that employees should be trusted, so they rely on complicated methods to ensure their employees are working the exact amount they should every month. The main problem is that those tracking systems are usually very flawed and prone to loopholes. Most of those loopholes benefit the employer, but if the employee is smart enough, they can find ways to use them in their favor. Which is exactly what happened in the story below.

Advertisement

  • The employee in the story below was quite annoyed with his workplace's new electronic system that tracks their work time. So when he found out that it was deeply flawed, he decided to use that to his advantage.

    Keep scrolling to read how he pulled that off.

  • 01
    Overtime FED TAX 145- FICA 9413 STATE/PROV TAX 37 30 UNEMPLOYMENT Gross MISC/SO Deduct 29120 MISC/INSURANCE 1477 No 939 0 START WORK STOP IN OUT ACCUMULATED HOURS TOTAL TASA COMMENTS 8:00 4:00 8 8:00 5:00 9 8:004:00 8 8:00 6:00 14 004.00 8 IHR Pages Paid through De And the number of withhol The amount of income tax to $158 164 170
    via Tinpixels

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02

    ""We don't pay extra time if it's under 15minutes" - Okay, I can make it work"

    I was a software engineer for a company and out of nowhere they implemented an eletronic control on our work time. Before that we would work extra on good
    via nogue2k
  • 03
    faith, if I had to do 2 more hours one day, the next day I could get in 2 hours later without a problem. In the new system I had to clock in
    via nogue2k
  • 04
    at 8am (if I didn't it would consider I was late and "lose" the entire first hour) and clock out at 5pm. With 1 hour lunch break.
    via nogue2k
  • 05
    Work laws here in Brazil are different from the ones in the US and most of the posts here. If the company tracks your work time, they HAVE to pay you extra time
    via nogue2k
  • 06
    on anything over 40hours/week. Sometimes I would get in a bit earlier like 8:50 or something and leave at
    via nogue2k
  • 07
    5:10pm. At the end of the first month I was surprised my extra hours were 0 ( on the previous system I wouldn't care, but they were the ones that decided
    via nogue2k
  • 08
    to track this). I decided to do some digging on how the tracking software worked and found out that anything less than 15 minutes per check in was
    via nogue2k
  • 09
    completely ignored (99% sure that was against the law but I could work with that). From that day on guess who arrived 16 minutes
    via nogue2k
  • 10
    earlier everyday. Came back from lunch 16 minutes earlier (if I was done and had nothing else to do) and left 16 minutes later.
    via nogue2k
  • 11
    At the end of the second month management called me in to explain why I had over 3 times more extra hours than most of the other workers. I just told
    via nogue2k
  • 12
    them to check their system, I'm not the one keeping track of that anymore. To my surprise they actually did pay everything that was owned (I could sue and
    via nogue2k
  • 13
    easily win) and DID NOT change how the system worked. I kept doing that for another 3 months before changing jobs to a remote one.
    via nogue2k
  • 14
    Overtime1 Overtime2 3 Rate FED TAX STATE/PROV. TAX 145- FICA 9413 MISC./SDI 37 30 Gross 1230 50 UNEMPLOYMENT Deduct. 29130 MISC./INSURANCE 1477 Net 939 30 2 M (For Wages Paid through De And the number of withhold 34 5 The amount of income tax to $297 303 $251 $205 $158 309 315 263 263 211 164 217 170 223 176 182 $122 10 107 2281 188 194 200 206 212 125 111 110 119 123 131 218 224 135 START STOP WORKED ACCUMULATED IN OUT HOURS TOTAL TASK COMMENTS 8:00 4:00 8 8:00 5:00 9 8:004:00 8 16:00 10 IHR. O
    via DNY59
  • 15
    Korinin38 Inflexible systems are made to be broken. Nice to hear that the employer actually paid you afterwards.
    via Korinin38
  • 16
    pancaf My brother used to work a job that rounded to the nearest 15 minutes. If you come in at 6:07am you're paid as if you came in at 6am. If you leave at 1:53pm you get paid as if you left at 2pm. So guess who came in 7 minutes late and left 7 minutes early every day XD
    via pancaf
  • 17
    zyyntin When a system is broken. You must show them that it is broken and let it fail.
    via zyyntin
  • 18
    Togakure_NZ I had to clock in at 8am (if I didn't it would consider | was late and "lose" the entire first hour) Well, no point turning up at 8.01 if they were going to dock your pay for the whole hour.
    via Togakure_NZ
  • 19
    Stupid rule by the company, trains everyone to either be on time or an hour late, without fail. No getting in five minutes later than the due start time anymore.
    via Togakure_NZ
  • 20
    nogue2k OP You could get until 8:14 and not be considered late. But most people didn't even know how the system actually worked and though it tracked the minutes correctly
    via nogue2k
  • 21
    reygan_duty_08978 Beating the system and getting away with it always feels nice, specially if you get more money for free for it
    via reygan_duty_08978

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

Tags

boss workplace-stories employee manager job malicious compliance tales-from-the-workplace system reddit story overworked-employees workplace overtime Reddit company funny clocking in
Scroll Down For The Next Article