Boss says "no overtime," employee leaves right at 5 pm when their shift is over, even though it's in the middle of a company emergency: 'Sorry, I’d love to help, but I really don’t want to violate company policy.'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
May 26, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

Middle managers and sweeping policies that ban overtime (or at least the reporting of it) are a dynamic duo. Seriously, is it in some default handbook that comes with every dubiously awarded promotion? 

The first rumblings that come of "no overtime" policies are usually when vacancies have been left on the team for a suspiciously long period of time, forcing the remaining members to work overtime just to keep up. The most dedicated on the team continue to work overtime anyway, desperate to keep up with the workload. But consistent pushback from management eventually leads to these team members giving up, turning instead to voicing the fact that projects are falling behind. 

When management still ignores their warnings, the only thing left to really do is to do exactly what they want and drop everything right when their scheduled shift is finished. Deadlines begin to get missed, and clients and customers are unhappy. Management starts to take it out on those same workers, blaming them for not doing their jobs, despite the fact that they've been communicating the lack of staffing and resources the entire time. Now, suddenly, the overtime is ok, management begins to act like the workers aren't being "team players" for staying to help finish.

It's a classic scene that has played out time and time again in many a workplace. A classic logical fallacy, right up there with firing most of the IT team because "Everything is going well, so what are we paying them for anyway?"

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  • 01

    "Boss said no overtime under any circumstances. So I left mid-emergency"

    A couple of months ago, our manager sent out a stern company-wide email saying "There will be NO overtime-no exceptions," even if things ran behind or if clients were in panic mode. Okay. Got it, boss. Fast forward to last Friday. A major client's account completely tanked due to a glitch, and it was all hands on deck. My shift ended at 5 PM, and around 4:58, I reminded my boss about the no-overtime policy.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10510141952
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    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 03
    He chuckled nervously and said, "Well... this is a bit different, just stay until it's fixed." I smiled, showed him the email he sent, and said: "Sorry, I'd love to help, but I really don't want to violate company policy." I logged out right at 5:00, grabbed my things, and left-while the rest of the team stayed until 8 PM cleaning up the mess. Monday morning, we got another email: "Overtime requests may now be approved on a case-by-case basis."
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 04
    Cheezburger Image 10510142208
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    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 05
    NotQuiteDead YetPhoto Same conversation with my boss "Absolutely no overtime" We don't have enough people to get the job done in the time allotted. -Why didn't you plan better? "I did, but I was denied the 3 extra bodies I needed. So you need to tell me which is going to you off the least- leaving unfinished, not doing training, or overtime. Your call."
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 06
    Ok-Entertainer9968 Verbal instructions to override a written policy? That doesnt work for me, need that sh in writing before i lift a finger
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  • 07
    grumblesmurf In my previous job we had a policy of no paid overtime, if overtime is done, it will be compensated by one-and-a-half or double time off. But as the IT department, if you do system work, it's either outside normal working hours, or we have 100+ employees twiddling their thumbs while it's done.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 08
    Cue my coworker taking out his overtime compensation and his annual vacation in one bulk time of 3+ months. That got quite expensive in the end because he was the only one allowed to sign off on IT-related bills. Also, people were not happy because he was also the only one allowed to order IT-related stuff. We got paid overtime after that.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 09
    silentspeck Had a thing where I was on a big company project, one with a lot of change management needing to go through. All of us were working our day job in addition to this Important Project so it was going to mean a lot of overtime. They pulled all of us together and went on and on about loyalty to the company and to keep us happy since we were salaried, they'd pay us overtime. But only
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 10
    after the first five hours each week. I was not salaried at the time so I stuck my hand up and asked "What about me? I'm still on the clock." (and thankfully, in the union. And that meant they *had* to pay me for any overtime, even the first five hours.) God I enjoyed watching the three HR rep's faces drop when they realised. And because I was getting paid from the first hour, they ended up having to pay everyone from the first hour.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 11
    PhoenixFlare1 • 5h ago Boss was trying to get you to work overtime for free.
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  • 12
    Plebian401.5h ago I had a similar experience. Overtime sheet said, in red, "no overtime!" No problem. I left a few hours before my shift was scheduled to end. Later he demanded to know why I left. I told him about the note. He said "I didn't mean your department." Well, you didn't specify so.....
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 13
    Kinetic_Strike • 4h ago Near the end of my time with a crappy retailer the new store manager had a team meeting before open one day. The news was no overtime, no staying late, no changing your shift hours at all (even if not technically OT) without a salaried manager's approval (her or the two assistant managers).
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 14
    Get done with the meeting and my hourly supervisor comes up and asks me to stay later to make sure the truck delivery was all stocked on the floor, etc. Did one of the salaried managers approve this? No. Will they? No. extreme confusion Were you listening during the meeting? Declined that offer to get thrown under the bus and left within a few weeks IIRC.
    via Lucy_Bloom45
  • 15
    • hey-mikey 5h ago Yeah, the "no overtime" policy at my job lasted 3 days until I started to head home at noon on Wednesday
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