Boss writes employee up for being 2 minutes late, even though she stays late at work every day: 'I never get paid overtime for it.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Apr 2, 2026 12:00 PM EDT

She should stop staying late if this is how she's treated when she arrives 120 seconds late.

A good rule of thumb for salaried employees is that you can be a little late if you stayed late at the office the day before to finish up a project. Similarly, if an employee shows up 30 minutes late due to an unfortunate commute, they might stay 30 minutes late to make up for the lost time. For most office workers, their boss isn't going to flip their lid if they show up a couple of minutes late, as long as it doesn't escalate into something more extreme. There's a big difference between being 5 minutes late and an hour late, and if the former turns into the latter, you might get in trouble with the suits. At a salaried white-collar position, you don't "clock in" the same way you would if you were a nurse or a store clerk. In those positions, things can go a lot more awry if a bunch of employees are late, which is why hourly jobs tend to be more strict about timeliness. Whether being late is a big deal depends on the kind of work you're doing and who you're working with. I'd be understandably angry if I had to join a meeting at 8 PM from the UK, and my coworkers who worked in America were late. How hard is it to show up to a 3 PM meeting? 

The employee in this story is understandably angry about being scolded by her boss for being two minutes late, especially since she stays 15-20 minutes after her shift ends nearly every day of the workweek.

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  • Photo of business developer team working while sitting and standing together
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The boss scolds his employee for arriving at the office 2 minutes late.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • My boss tried to write me up for being 2 minutes late, when I stay late every single day

    i am so sick of the double standerds at my office. my shift starts at 8 and i clocked in at 8:02 today cause of a massive traffic jam.
    via u/greenmonkeyyyy
  • my boss immidiatly pulls me into his office and starts threatning a write up about stealing company time.
    via u/greenmonkeyyyy
  • i literally stay 15 to 20 mins past my shift every single day to finish up his extra work and i never get paid overtime for it.
    via u/greenmonkeyyyy
  • i just looked at him and said well i guess i am leaving exactly at 5 from now on no matter what.
    via u/greenmonkeyyyy
  • he got super red and walked away but i am legit so done with this place.
    via u/greenmonkeyyyy
  • Business consult, two people working and talking with each other
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Employee looks annoyed as her boss continues to scold her for being 2 minutes later, even though she stays late for nearly every shift.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • does anyone elses boss act like this over literally two mins of time
    via u/greenmonkeyyyy
  • Dariaskehl So, make your boss's priority your imperative. Stand up and walk out precisely on the second. Eventually, (rapidly, really...) you'll be asked why. "On Mar 31, you make it implicitly clear how important timeliness is to you when you accused me of theft of company resources. As you have made so clear, it would be careless at best were I to obligate the company into unplanned overtime expenses. " And keep notes. Writes legibly, by hand, on paper; with dates.
    via u/Dariaskehl
  • Beneficial_Win_5128 Not trying to sound cold, but, thats what you get for staying late. Source: was a complete pushover for most of my life
    via u/Beneficial_Win_5128
  • puppet_master34 Years ago in a past role I used to get in early often due to train times and if I did I'd start early as I didn't mind. Then came the day I was 5mins late due to the train as I was still adjusting to the new train schedules from a house move and I got told off. So from that day on I never started early and if I did arrive early I'd just sit in the kitchen until it was 8.30am on the dot.
    via u/puppet_master34
  • _Flavor_Dave_ Had an operations manager try this on me and other programming staff. We usually came in late after working well past 5 the previous evening helping with issues. It was an informal comp time arrangement that never equaled the time we had spent on extra work, but helped us regain some time back so we didn't get behind on stuff outside of work. Started leaving right at 5pm after getting a 'talking to'. CEO came to us within the week and set things straight.
    via u/_Flavor_Dave_
  • octophobic my former boss called me and told me that core hours are 8am to 5pm, and asked what my hours are. I said 8:30am to 5:30pm and she didn't say much more about it until two check ins from then when she asked me how it's going getting in at 8am and repeating that core hours are 8:00am to 5:00pm. I asked if getting in at 8:30am was a problem, she said I would need to file a reasonable accommodation for that.
    via u/octophobic
  • GreyerGrey The concept of "clocking in" in an office... uh no. No thank you.
    via u/GreyerGrey
  • Black and white analog wall clock at 10:00
    via Hennie Stander

    An old-school punch clock, where employees punched in on their time cards. 

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • elch07 It s ks having idiots for bosses.
    via u/elch07
  • greenmonkeyyyy Original Poster's Reply truee
    via u/greenmonkeyyyy
  • ohlaph Wait until he's late one day and start emailing everyone looking for him. Do that any time he's late. Loop in his boss, directors, everyone. See how important two minutes are.
    via u/ohlaph
  • RyvenZ If you clocked in at 8:02, you didn't steal a d In thing and your boss can kick rocks. Downside is that it leaves a paper trail of a time when you were tardy. Others here are right, stop staying late, unless you log that, too and collect pay OT for the extra minutes
    via u/RyvenZ

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boss late clocking in employee job criticism Office overtime work trouble
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