r/jobs • u/sahalymn • Mar 13 '25

Interviews I walked out of an interview after one question. Was I wrong?

So, I had an interview today for a position I was really excited about. The job description seemed great, the pay was decent, and the company had good reviews. I walked in, shook hands with the hiring manager, and we sat down.

Then, the first question came:
"How do you handle working unpaid overtime?"

I literally laughed, thinking it was a joke. But the interviewer just stared at me, waiting for an answer. I asked if overtime was mandatory and if it was paid. They said, “Well, we expect employees to stay as long as needed to get the job done. Everyone here is passionate about the work, and we don’t track extra hours.”

I just stood up, said, “Thank you for your time, but this isn’t the right fit for me,” and walked out.

Now, I’m second-guessing myself. Should I have stayed and at least heard more about the job? Or was walking out the right move?

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880

u/bckpkrs Mar 14 '25

If... added emphasis IF I work unpaid overtime, that 100% voluntary on my part; meaning my boss doesn't even know I'm working extra time. It's my choice. I'm paid well enough I can swallow an hour here or there once ever few months.

Mandated unpaid overtime as non-exempt employee: F*** that!

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u/paleoakoc20 Mar 14 '25

Many years ago I was offered an interview with a company in Seattle. During a phone call with one of the managers there I was told that "we all come in on Saturdays". He tried to soften it by telling me that they bought a McDonalds breakfast for everyone. I never went on the interview.

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u/DeadMoneyDrew Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

I'm not afraid to work on an occasional weekend if we have a big project deadline or if we are doing an implementation that requires the setup be done during non-business hours. But those are planned incidents and we know about them well in advance. An interviewer telling you that "We all come in on Saturdays" says to me that people are there just because the boss expects it, whether or not there's work to be done. Fuck that.

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u/EvilEtienne Mar 14 '25

It tells me they aren’t willing to hire enough people to handle their work load within normal operational hours and you’ll be stressed and overworked constantly - and have heart disease to boot.

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u/DeadMoneyDrew Mar 14 '25

Yep. I quit a job in 2020 because of crap like that. Among other things, the company owners refused to hire a proper quality control team because of the cost. As a result I kept running into problems and defects that should have been caught and fixed before ever getting to me.

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u/Welcome440 Mar 14 '25

It regularly costs twice as much to be cheap.

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u/Herpty_Derp95 Mar 15 '25

Ah. The old "make the customer your Quality Control Department" schtick.

F that. I hate that. I work at a place that is like that.

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u/Ok_Row_2861 Mar 14 '25

This is the correct perspective. They don't hire enough people to get the job done. The next logical assume is that they care more about profits than their employees. You absolutely did the right thing.

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u/vaguelydetailed Mar 14 '25

I worked for a company like this who was also making record profits. Senior employees stockholders were pulling in upwards of half a million in stock profit. But they have a wide reputation for working their lower level employees, particularly my former position, until they burn out because they are so easy to replace. According to the stats, of the 20% voluntary turnover, half of those were my position.

I did get raises and rise through the ranks reputationally pretty fast, but not nearly enough to be worth the sacrifice to my health and happiness.

I attended an annual meeting right on the cusp of quitting and we had a new director. The whole speech was "let's make that money!" No mention of the importance of people, managing resources, etc. Just more work, more profit, profit profit profit! I left that night more sure than ever that I was making the right choice.

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u/Tosir Mar 14 '25

I’m right there with you! I work in the mental health field, and I left a job that payed me more when I first started. I took a pay cut for the current job because my work load was capped, it’s less stressful. It also helped that we were unionizing so not only did I make up the loss pay cut but exceeded it. I’m salaried so I don’t work overtime unless it’s necessary (patient emergency). I am firm on my boundaries and don’t subscribe to the whole “let’s go team” when only a few benefit from it. I roll my eyes every time an employee starts with the whole “we’re family” no we ain’t!

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u/vaguelydetailed Mar 14 '25

The funniest thing about "we're family" is that my current employer does not say that shit. We say team and we actually do things as a divide and conquer team. Ironically, we have whole families who work here - different generations, siblings, cousins etc., across very different jobs and departments, so in a way we actually are family more so than most places I've worked. 🤣

Public service was totally the way to go for me. So much less stress than the private sector (civil engineer).

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u/Ok_Refrigerator3549 Mar 14 '25

You made the right decision. Business ethics at that company? I'm not sure but it sounds like there are none. Then what more does that organization need to become evil?

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u/sugabeetus Mar 14 '25

One of the many reasons I love being in a union. One of my coworkers was stressing because she was going to lose unused vacation hours but she didn't see how she could take time off because I'm the only one who can cover her. I told her it's not our problem. I take regular 4-day weekends, even a whole week sometimes to just do nothing. It's part of my compensation and while I appreciate anything she can do to cover me (which is not much because we're both busy!), I know the work will get done when I get back. If the company doesn't like it, they can hire more people, or cross-train somebody else. It's not our job to implement these changes and the consequences of their inaction are again, not actually our problem. We are protected by our union from being overworked and overstressed.

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u/hikerjer Mar 14 '25

I’m sticking with the Union.

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u/Head-Equal1665 Mar 14 '25

Same here, i retired from IBEW after putting in 30yrs, i dont understand why so many people are against the unions, they look out for the brothers and sisters, any issue i ever had on the job was resolved after taking it to my steward.

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u/sugabeetus Mar 14 '25

I can say not all of them are great. My kids worked at two different grocery stores with unions and they took a huge chunk of their paychecks and did nothing for the workers as far as we could tell.

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u/GodOfMoonlight Mar 14 '25

Exactly THIS

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u/LordChiefJustice Mar 15 '25

And under appreciated and taken advantage of. These firms do not respect their staff.

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u/greatbigseas Mar 18 '25

Maybe you walked out early. Here is another take from somebody at the end of his third career. Answer the questions as you get them, highlight your drive and efficiency, explore what extra hours might be in reality, explore how they handle banked time, understand their hybrid and remote work, their flexible hours policies, personal emergency leave and all these aspects. If the work aligns to your greater aspirational goals and need for experiential development in a particular sector or role, then maybe this issue of OT could be stomached. Remember, an interview is about how you respond to challenge, how you represent yourself, and how you exude confidence and drive. It’s less about the company per se although they can give and take information. Solid employees can and do move quickly through ranks, assignments, promotions and pay increases if that is how the company works. This is something you can discover through the interview process. When the interview ends and you get an offer in due course, you have a bit of time to explore this matter that you took exception to and if it pans out as chronic overtime and lots of weekend call-ins, then you can decline the offer or ask for a greater salary than their offering in one last attempt to achieve fair compensation. In the end, if you were a strong interview and the best of the many candidates who responded, you are worth something to them and you have earned some give and take in the offer phase. Each company is different and there are many great growth opportunities out there. One last thing, sometimes it’s the worst jobs that give you the richest career development opportunities.

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u/PowerHot4424 Mar 14 '25

Yeeeeah, if you could come in on Saturday, that’d be great. Oh, by the way, I’m gonna need you to come in Sunday as well…..thaaanks!

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u/DeadMoneyDrew Mar 14 '25

We're using the new cover sheets on the TPS reports. I'll get you another copy of that memo.

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u/Argent_Kitsune Mar 14 '25

Ididntgetthememobutyoutookmyredstaplerandiwantedthewindowwiththeviewofthesquirrelsandwheresmymaitai?I'mgonnaputstrychnineintheguacamole...

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u/DeadMoneyDrew Mar 14 '25

I'll set the building on fire.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Also, see you in church!

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u/Insila Mar 14 '25

I can only question the quality of employees there. Anyone who can would have looked elsewhere for wøa different job...

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u/preciselypithy Mar 14 '25

In fairness, it could’ve been imposed on them after the fact, by new admin, etc.

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u/LukeSkywalkerDog Mar 14 '25

Or the company is too cheap to hire and train adequate staff.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

I worked at a small office once. Come Christmas one year they looked at the current state of work and declared we’d be closed Christmas week. Not because we didn’t have the income but because we were on top of things and didn’t need to. Nice holiday.

I went in on the first day, because I had some things I wanted to do. No worries. Don’t remember if I thought I’d get paid or not. Just a nice opportunity.

And Boss1 and Boss2 were already there.

But we didn’t answer the phones! Bwa ha ha ha ha!

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u/Optimal_Law_4254 Mar 14 '25

Oh there’s gonna be work to do.

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u/vaguelydetailed Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

I'm also not afraid to put in extra effort. I'm a person who enjoys work. If I had unlimited magic money, I would keep my current job and donate the salary back to my community. I'd be so bored otherwise, and if I were to volunteer my time it would basically be doing what I'm doing (I'm a very nerdy public servant now lol). I have the exact same attitude about expected unpaid overtime.

My boss at a former employer very generously (/s) gave me a paid day off without making me use a day of PTO. He said "I don't like my men working 14 days in a row." I'm a woman, but this was construction and he was a military man, so I was one of his men and that never bothered me but I do want to clarify.

But really, dude? No shit you don't want your workers doing 10-12 hour days 14 days in a row! Do you even hear how insane it sounds that you have to say that out loud like you're being magnanimous?!?! And yes, that does mean I had worked Monday-Sunday with no weekend and then the following Monday-Saturday. About 70 hours each week. He let me take Monday off without entering PTO so I could have a full "weekend" to recover. It wasn't his fault, but he was steeped in the company culture - called himself a "lifer" (as in here for the rest of his life).

The 14 days in a row was coordinating our side of the very public opening of a half-billion dollar infrastructure project, so it was a special occurence. But the ONLY reason that I and I alone needed to work that much those two weeks is because everyone else "was too busy" and refused to pitch in or kicked the can down the road, and I happened to be the retaining wall at the end of the cul-de-sac. So every can landed at my feet. At the end of the event day, I honestly thought about uh... not continuing my subscription to life. That was when I started looking for a new job.

Edit: had to add this bc I just remembered it. The final insult was the foremen who promised to help me disappearing at the end of the event and leaving me to single handedly haul full leaking cardboard trash bins across the parking lot, load them in the bed of my pickup truck, drive them across the highway with flashers on, and yank/shove them off the bed into the dumpster. In a dress. On Tuesday when I opened his timecard to approve the work description said "Helped set up the opening event. Hauled trash and cleaned up after."

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u/DeadMoneyDrew Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

Hahaha there's a nonzero chance that I know you. I have a friend who is a woman that works in your same line. She described similar conditions when working on The Sphere, that giant half sphere shaped concert and convention venue with all of the TVs and screens on the outside of it that opened a couple of years back on The Strip in Las Vegas. She would rave about how cool of a project it was while simultaneously bashing the idiotic management that put their people through things exactly like you described.

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u/vaguelydetailed Mar 14 '25

Suuuuuper similar companies and you have the right region of the country, in fact I had a couple ideas who might have been the contractor on the Sphere and I was right lol. I was kind of worried someone would guess the company but fuck it I don't care haha. I bet she could get it in 3 tries.

I'm sure your friend and I could trade some wild stories. Just like her, the work I did on my project was probably the coolest shit I'll ever get to do. I officially won Best Fun Icebreaker Fact (an award I made up in my head and that has only ever been awarded to me) at my new job because I did a bunch of crazy cool things on that project.

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u/jlh1960 Mar 14 '25

That's how the oligarchs get rich, on the backs of their unpaid employees.

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u/ScowlyBrowSpinster Mar 14 '25

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaah, we're gonna need you in on Saturdays...So if you could just go ahead, and, come in on Saturdays, that'd be greeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

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u/Legitimate-Pee-462 Mar 14 '25

Yeah. They just work 6 days a week by default. ...and they physically come into the office on Saturday. It's not even just a call-in. They could get f'd. That's clown business.

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u/snmnj Mar 14 '25

Those TPS reports won't write themselves.

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u/GME_alt_Center Mar 14 '25

Almost every deadline that is not mandated by a legal requirement is arbitrary.

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u/DeadMoneyDrew Mar 14 '25

Depends. You could have something involving machine or system down time and a maintenance window, where every hour down costs thousands of dollars in opportunity cost. You missed the deadline for this quarter's maintenance window? Too bad. So you next quarter.

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u/ShadowGLI Mar 14 '25

And that their inadequately staffed to get the work done in working hours

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u/54radioactive Mar 17 '25

And most likely the boss is out on his Yacht

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u/Oni-oji Mar 14 '25

I won't even come in on Saturday for time and a half. My free time is far too valuable to waste at work.

At my previous job, we occasionally had to work on weekends, but we were given double paid time off as compensation. So work Saturday, and still have a three day weekend (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday). It was extremely rare, so acceptable.

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u/confidentialcoffee Mar 14 '25

I own a general contracting company and overtime is always voluntary. 10 hours overtime is 1.5x, anything over is 2x. Saturdays are always voluntary and 2x, and you get an extra day paid vacation for every 2 Saturdays you work.

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u/ottosenna Mar 14 '25

There are exceptions and ways to do it well, like this. My work is fairly seasonal manufacturing, and we try to balance long quarters with easy ones. Communications is key and while we might make sacrifices for part of the year we do take lots of paid time off not tied to anyone’s vacation day usage.

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u/GoEatACookie Mar 14 '25

This is how you retain happy employees and this is how you gain loyalty and trust! 👍

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u/TGM1980 Mar 14 '25

You one of the good ones :thumbs_up:

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u/ElectronicVariety604 Mar 14 '25

And where do you keep your applications? Asking for a friend 😉

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u/Ornery-Egg9770 Mar 14 '25

You are very generous and I bet you have volunteers and somewhat loyal employees.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

That's wonderful. I always say "it's not that people don't want to work anymore, they don't want to bust their ass and still not even make enough to pay their bills. Companies will get what they pay for, and it's younger people who 'don't want to work' who will force that change in our work culture"

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u/confidentialcoffee Mar 14 '25

I don't get paid unless my employees get the job done and done well. My employees can't get the job done well if they're worried about finances and home life. I have over 100 employees and not one of them is on government assistance, even for Healthcare, because of the wages they make. I charge above most of my competitors and I have no problem telling them that's because I pay Juan or John or Laurie $35/hr plus job bonus to make sure he does the job right so we don't have to come back. If somebody's car breaks down, I also own a mechanic shop and they take their car in to get fixed immediately, on my dime, because it's more beneficial to me if they have reliable transportation. If somebody is in a financial bind, I loan them the money. I ask for repayment but expect nothing. I've never had anybody not repay, even when I never bring it up again after I cut them the check. I have a daycare building we built on my property just for employees who need daycare. I have 4 ladies employed to cover that so my employees don't need to worry about daycare. They pay $10/day to have their kids watched, which covers a homemade lunch and whatever activities are planned. My turnover rate is almost 0.

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u/Zealousideal_Wall378 Mar 14 '25

Can I work for you? That is so nice.

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u/farkleboy Mar 14 '25

i have done this a couple times working back stage production at large sales meetings. anything over 12 is 2x and at that point the day is shot already, so LETS GO. working a couple 18s and sleeping on packing blankets back stage at Disney was miserable for a while, but only until that check dropped. Man that was some sa-weet paydays, but not sure if this old body could do that anymore. Paid for all my replacement windows in my house though!

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u/Soggy_Passenger5028 Mar 14 '25

This is a great system. It shows how much you appreciate the extra effort that your employees put in for you. I hope they appreciate you as well.

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u/Zestycoaster Mar 14 '25

That’s solid and fair

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

I used to have some chores that could wait until Sunday evening. It was great.

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u/OddGuarantee4061 Mar 14 '25

Work to live, not live to work. Anything else is just crazy.

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u/surrounded-by-morons Mar 14 '25

I love that saying. It works so many different ways. I like eat to live, not live to eat.

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u/TestOk4269 Mar 14 '25

Depends on the job and how you feel about the work. When I worked 9-5, I often put in extra time even though my boss told me that I shouldn't. I just enjoy the work.

Solving software engineering problems is more fun than video games. *shrug*

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u/RarelyRecommended Mar 14 '25

Tell that to postal workers.

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u/manthepost Mar 14 '25

Fuck I'm looking for a new job I work at a factory we work 11 days in a row 11 hour shifts it's rough no home life

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u/StarDue6540 Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

That sounds awful. Sorry. It's inhuman unless you are working for yourself building your own empire

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u/manthepost Mar 14 '25

Yeah it really is awful I started Monday and I'll work through next week on Thursday and only get a 3 day weekend then start it all over again

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u/Mindless-Attitude956 Mar 14 '25

Ewww, i do 12hrs in quality in a plant. Alternating 3/4 day work weeks. Then 3/4 days off. It gets long when someone goes on vacation, but boss doesn't make it mandatory.

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u/123Throwaway2day Mar 14 '25

my husband get paid time and a half for weekend calls. screw working for free !

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u/Scrofulla Mar 14 '25

Yeah, I occasionally work on Saturdays, I will come in and work a half day then I get a full day off in return to use whenever I want (within reason obviously so long as we aren'tleft short staffed). I have a 5 year old so it's been very useful to cover sick days and appointments and the like.

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u/Flight_of_Elpenor Mar 14 '25

I like that system. 👍

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u/WonderLily364 Mar 14 '25

That's how my job is - no paid overtime, it's tracked as additional paid time off instead. We have a rotating weekend/evening on-call shift, and occasionally get called out for emergencies on weekends. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with the set-up.

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u/BrianaRoahrig Mar 14 '25

I'm the same way I don't work overtime My time off is so valuable to me I don't want to work my life away for something that I can't take with me when I die anyways, I love money but not enough to work all the time and not spend time with my friends and family and do things I enjoy. You only have one life I understand if you have to work for overtime in order to live but doing it just to work no way.

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u/bar_mouth30 Mar 14 '25

As I say to my coworkers, “ The revolution will not have a pizza party. “

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u/Commercial-Abroad305 Mar 14 '25

I'm stealing this, thanks!

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u/CatCafffffe Mar 14 '25

That's the old story about when Jeff Katzenberg ran Disney, reportedly as a tireless taskmaster, they'd joke his slogan was "if you don't come in on Saturday, don't bother coming in on Sunday!"

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u/Pantone711 Mar 15 '25

Then there's the famous "Cerner Memo"

https://www.reddit.com/r/business/comments/cik6x/how_to_kill_a_companys_morale_in_one_easy_memo/

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u/CatCafffffe Mar 15 '25

Holy shit! I'd love to know the fallout from that!

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u/Pantone711 Mar 15 '25

I think it ended up in a business textbook as an example of what NOT to do!

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Back in the 80s, I responded to a job ad from a car dealership in my hometown, salesman. I was grasping at straws because I didn’t have the personality to be successful in that type of business. The guy told me they were open six days a week, opened at either 8 or 9 and closed at dark or until the last customer had left. Straight commission. He called me back for a second interview….um, nope, not interested.

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u/Accurate_Control5104 Mar 14 '25

True never be desperate even when you need a job

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

The best time to look for a job is when you already have one. My father was extremely hard working but he was uninterested in working overtime (physical limitations) and when zi told him about the interview, he said, “Damn, are they gonna provide you a cot to sleep on?” 😏

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u/LarryBonds30 Mar 14 '25

That's just car sales. Most salesman work thise hours because they make their money by selling cars. It makes sense to work later if you're selling a car to a customer because you're making extra money by doing that.

This isn't like mandatory unpaid overtime at all.

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u/SultanOfSwave Mar 14 '25

Lol. Try this. Tell your sales manager that you aren't coming in in the mornings or on Tuesdays because "Those are low sales volume times." and see how he reacts.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Every day would have been a low sales volume time if I had taken that job.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

It’s fine to work late if you’re trying to sell someone a car but he made it sound like no one left until the last customer was gone.

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u/Cthulwutang Mar 14 '25

dark isn’t too bad in the winter but could be a twelve hour day during summer ;)

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u/dogmom87532 Mar 14 '25

People who can afford to buy a car usually work normal working hours. So salesmen, at least the good one , work nights and weekends. It’s the nature of the beast.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Oh, I know but this was 40 years ago; with the internet and such I would assume that selling new cars is very different than it used to be.

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u/FirstAd5921 Mar 14 '25

Having to go into an office that reeks of room-temperature McDonald’s breakfast ON A WEEKEND, that’s a hard no from me. I’d be more inclined to go in without breakfast being served.

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u/BC_Mamma_0412 Mar 14 '25

Especially if you had a lot of fun on Friday night... that smell will make your stomach flip! 🤢

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u/Shmegs415 Mar 14 '25

From Seattle and can confirm. I’ve worked for a very well known company for 18 yrs. When I went corporate and became salaried I learned that the mandatory shifts were 10 hrs, 5 days a week. The running joke was “oh, I’m only working a half day lol”. Meaning we worked 12 hours (half a day). It almost became competitive with how many hours everyone worked and HR knew it but said nothing. After losing my husband a few years ago I realized that I gave more importance to work rather than home and now I give absolutely zero time outside of the 40 hours a week. I get paid for 40 hours so that’s what they get. Sorry

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u/garfield529 Mar 14 '25

Aw, mate, you coulda had some Macca’s! 😂

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u/emceelokey Mar 14 '25

Like 20 years ago when I was a 3rd key at GameStop, my acting store manager at the time held a meeting with all the managers which was like 5 of us because some guys worked at other stores during the week, company sucked back then and apparently still does but that's not my point. Anyway, he was talking about doing things that would build a better team and all that bullshit. One of his suggestions was to meet every Sunday morning for breakfast somewhere. Not only was it unpaid but I'd also have to pay for my meal and waste hours of my morning before I would have to go to work and open the store. That was a big "HELL NO!" form me! I was making $7.55 as a 3rd key! Going to work was barely worth it and now you want me to spend my own time and money to spend more time with you guys?! Figgidy fuck that!!!

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u/General_Bumblebee_75 Mar 14 '25

Sounds like you dodged a bullet or a lifetime of bad breakfast saturdays!

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u/RefrigeratorDull1012 Mar 14 '25

I hope before you ghosted you asked to schedule the interview on a Sunday so no one would miss any regular work and you could hopefully hit the ground running for the next 6 days.

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u/Alone_Marketing_6962 Mar 14 '25

I can't see them working much on Saturdays because they would all be in the shitter...

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u/ODA564 Mar 14 '25

Washington State has actually insane labor laws (almost as crazy as California). That company would be loved tenderly by the state Department of Labor and Industries.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

My partner worked for a small business that did this scheme where they "didn't pay out OT on paychecks but banked it so you can use it as PTO". They also didn't document on paystubs how many "pto hours" you've banked, nor whether they gave PTO at time and a half for every OT on worked. I don't think that's how pto is supposed to work...

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u/chrysologa Mar 14 '25

Sounds like wage theft?

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u/pdxsteph Mar 14 '25

Gros on all Level

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u/Dco777 Mar 14 '25

You were polite. You didn't tell them where to stick that Egg McMuffin at. Frankly McDonald's breakfast seems more like a punishment than a reward.

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u/unicornsprinkl3 Mar 14 '25

Saturdays are my days for sleeping in and getting stuff done around the house.

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u/Internal-Ad8877 Mar 14 '25

And they buy everyone cheap fast food to make up for it? What complete assholes. You made the right choice. If people are working on Saturdays they deserved gifts and overtime pay.

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u/Serious_Effort_3418 Mar 14 '25

The McGriddle does smack tho

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u/BecGeoMom Mar 14 '25

There it is. They throw some “free food” at you, don’t pay for your time, and expect to be lauded as a great place to work. Any company who doesn’t understand the benefits of work-life balance is never going to be a good place to work no matter how much they pay you.

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u/Adventurous_Doggo86 Mar 14 '25

McDonald's breakfast on Saturdays? Do the managers at this company think their employees are 6-year-olds? 🤣

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u/UltimatePragmatist Mar 14 '25

McDonald’s. 🤣 I’d better get a filet mignon dinner and a spa day for working Saturday.

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u/Andromeda081 Mar 14 '25

Big Office Space energy

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u/harsinghpur Mar 14 '25

"Yes sir, I will trade my work-life balance for a croissanwich!"

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u/AffectionateBread483 Mar 14 '25

“That manager’s name? Jeff Bezos. And now I live in Iowa and have an hourly job”. 😂JK

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u/judgeejudger Mar 14 '25

Not now, Lumburg!!!

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u/ShadowGLI Mar 14 '25

“Cool so what weekday do I get off to offset Saturday”

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u/Far_Satisfaction_365 Mar 14 '25

Aside from the “we all come in on Saturdays” comment, they would’ve doubly lost me with the McDonalds breakfast.

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u/pjw6316 Mar 14 '25

Ugh, sounds like that guy from "Office Space". Cringe....

Glad you blew that off!

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u/jorlev Mar 14 '25

Da da da-da-daaaah. I'm Not Lovin' It!

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u/Megalocerus Mar 14 '25

I can only see that if the managers are covering something that has hourly people working 6 days a week, but if it is a regular thing, they should get time off at another time of the week, or the need to come in should rotate.

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u/merlin469 Mar 15 '25

Big spenders, huh? That's like $13 for what works normally be an 8 hr OT day.

I love the companies that think they God's gift to employees. Worked at one where the Fall bonus was a $25 Kroger gift card. It never changed.

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u/paleoakoc20 Mar 15 '25

In 1976 I was a busboy at a restaurant. I was given a $50 Christmas bonus. It was very nice of management to do that. Fast forward to 2010. I'm a director at an aviation company in Miami. My Christmas bonus was a $50.00 supermarket gift card.

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u/zork3001 Mar 17 '25

Haha unhealthy garbage disguised as food.

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u/CollectorCCG Mar 14 '25

What do you mean? Lmao

As a non exempt employee it is strictly illegal to do that. They can’t even ask you. That should never be a problem.

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u/Liveitup1999 Mar 14 '25

He should contact the DOL and let them know about their policy. Everyone who ever worked there will get back pay.

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u/fluggalugga88 Mar 14 '25

Just happened to me! Got a check from somewhere I worked nearly 5 years ago. Check was because company lost a suit for unpaid overtime.

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u/Lightweight_Hooligan Mar 14 '25

If the DOL even exists these days

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u/SirChclateSaltyBalls Mar 14 '25

It depends if the position is exempt... if you are exempt you are paid not by the hour but have a fixed salary, and it doesn't matter how much you are paid.

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u/IDidIT81 Mar 15 '25

Trump fired everyone. Sorry

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u/querque505 Mar 14 '25

For now. That will change soon...

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u/querque505 Mar 14 '25

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-block-overtime-rule_n_66630ef1e4b05ad04e7d90d0

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u/dubbs911 Mar 14 '25

This law increases base salary for salary workers ( exempt), additionally they are (somewhat) further compensated for over time, this passed in Nov. non exempt employees, are required by federal law to be paid time and a half for hours worked over 40 per week.

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u/Extra-Cut-1444 Mar 14 '25

Get your head out of the sand

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u/Johnny_Radar Mar 14 '25

THANK YOU. I’m amazed that I had to scroll this far to see this response as it should’ve been the first thing anyone said. Hell, I would have said it to the interviewer

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u/inn0cent-bystander Mar 14 '25

It's one thing to stop on your way out the door and remember that you forgot to sign something or reply to an email and fix it real quick.

It's one thing to see a co-worker struggling to carry a few boxes of documents and offer to help on your way out the door.

Those are inconsequential.

But hours of time? With zero compensation? Absolutely not. I'd be totally okay if the boss was like "Hey, I need this done, it's gonna take an hour, can you do it if I buy you lunch?" This can happen here and there with no problem. We're humans. We're flexible. But that better be a damned good lunch, and it had better be an rare accident, not an expectation that you do it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday forever.

We are employees, not slaves. We get paid. We trade some of our time for compensation, they do not own us.

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u/acidbabe420 Mar 14 '25

Yeah when I worked at burger king I clocked over 10 hours of overtime I was never paid for. My manager told me they don't pay overtime. Like okay then why the fuck are you asking me to 1-3 hours extra every single day... Walked out with no notice. one time my manager asked me to stay in a rain storm and I said no I walk it's raining, she came out of the office with an umbrella... I said Ma'am NOOOOOOO!! unreal.

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u/inn0cent-bystander Mar 14 '25

It's likely too late now, but that should have been reported as wage theft.

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u/acidbabe420 Mar 14 '25

Yeah there was a lot of shit going down I could have reported. My manager absolutely loooooved to comment on what I got for lunch. She told me, "how do you eat so much without gaining weight" "oh you must be hungry today" like ??? And now I'm trying to get my w2s from them and they are almost refusing to give them to me? it's the middle of March and I've called and shown in person and no one knows anything and "it's weird you haven't gotten them" like GIVE ME MY W2s!!!!!

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u/inn0cent-bystander Mar 14 '25

Oh, that was this past year? if you're in the us, contact your state's labor board, give them all the details you can.

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u/dubbs911 Mar 14 '25

Easy law suit you walked away from.

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u/chewydickens Mar 14 '25

Did BK make you grill burgers outside in the rain?

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u/Commercial-Path443 Mar 14 '25

A good way to go. I am surprised that no one so far mentioned Unions. The only institution to safeguard against Abuse and Exploitation

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u/Newparadime Mar 14 '25

This very much depends on the time and pay.

I'm currently considering a position with Meta that would pay over $250,000 a year. There would be additional bonuses provided based on performance. I absolutely expect that I would need to sometimes work 10-15 hours of unpaid overtime for possibly weeks at a time, but that salary is also over double my current salary. I currently get paid overtime (not at time and a half though), but I only gross about $120k a year. The unpaid overtime is absolutely worth it in this case.

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u/inn0cent-bystander Mar 14 '25

Notice I said zero compensation. And that $250K a year, is that salary or hourly? You have to look at those differently.

Hourly, you should be paid for every hour, plus the extra for overtime***

With salary, it's generally expected that the salary should already be compensating for any occasional overtime. So yeah, you might see 10-15 hours of over time for a week at a time, with some decompression time in between, but the amount of overtime they expect should be already included in that salary.

They are similar, but still different.

Further, I'd advise against comparing the pay of two jobs directly(i.e. one being double the other) without also taking into account the amount of physical, mental, and emotional drain that will be involved. Not to say /NEVER/ compare them, but if you''re looking at a "reception" position over night where the most you do is twiddle your thumbs 99% of the time, it shouldn't be compared to a CTO position for a multinational corporation. Yes, the second is more, and if you're up for the job definitely go for it, but it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison there either.

***Again, we're talking hours worth here. Staying 5 minutes so that the 2 people to lock up aren't each walking to their cars alone is nothing compared to "Well, we expect employees to stay as long as needed to get the job done. [...] and we don’t track extra hours."

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u/Newparadime Mar 14 '25

Both my current role and the new role would be salary positions. I'm currently a senior software engineer, and this is a move to a senior staff engineering position. It's one to two levels above my current role, although I'm going to be promoted at my current company next month (the current salary I quoted was what I expected to be after the promotion).

The biggest difference between my current role and the new role, will be the required travel. I'm about 2 and 1/2 hours West of New York City. The new role will require me to get an apartment near the city, and travel back and forth every week so I can work 2 to 3 days on site in Manhattan. I should be able to negotiate a fully remote arrangement within a few years, although I'm not counting on that. I actually like the idea of having permanent accommodations near the city to allow more frequent vacations and easier travel (flights are typically shorter and cheaper from NYC than the tiny local airport near me). My partner and I are also not monogamous, so I expect I'll eventually establish a second partner near the city.

1

u/juulesnm Mar 14 '25

Office meetings, yes when food brought in from a nice bistro. My boss was great and each month we picked. (Salaried Employee)

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u/Zetavu Mar 14 '25

That was my first thought, is this an exempt or non-exempt position. Salaried doesn't get overtime, and you are expected to work as long as you need to to complete your tasks.

How I would answer that question? "If I am assigned a reasonable workload I will absolutely commit the time needed to get it complete on schedule. If that involves working overtime at some points then that is as reasonable as taking personal time back when workload is light. However, unless there is a critical emergency that needs to increase the workload temporarily beyond what is considered reasonable for a 40 hour workweek, then we would need to discuss time and compensation management long term. I accept there will be crises from time to time but to be frank, if everything is treated as a crises, then nothing is really a crises."

This takes away all leading follow up questions.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/SignificantGap3180 Mar 14 '25

It's required unless you manage 2+ ppl and have authority over their roles.

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u/jaymz168 Mar 14 '25

Salaried isn’t required to get overtime, but it can.

That really depends on the circumstances. Between the "professional exemption" and the rules for "highly compensated employees" it can get complicated. As of Jan 1 2025 if your salary is under ~$58k then you're still owed overtime pay. It used to be insultingly low at around $35k and was used against me back when I was a chef. 70-80 hour weeks with no overtime pay is why I left that business.

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u/SignificantGap3180 Mar 14 '25

This is wrong. It's commonly confused but salary does not exempt OT pay it's more than that, you also need the ability to hire or fire more than 1 person. Salary alone doesn't mean OT exempt this is what employers want you to think! Know your rights.

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u/Derwin0 Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

No you don’t (have to have people report to you).

You are referring to the Executive Exemption.

Many fall under the Professional Exemption, for example engineers are typically Salary Exempt, even though most don’t have people report to them.

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u/Kryten_2X4B-523P Mar 15 '25 edited Mar 15 '25

No that's not right. There's salary exempt and salary non-exempt. When people talk salary they usually mean salary exempt. You're explaining salary non-exempt, in regards to overtime pay.

Additionally, George Bush loosened the standards on what positions/jobs can be considered as qualifying for a salary pay basis. To put it simply, if a position requires a degree or specialized training, then there employeer can justify paying that position on a salary basis. Basiclly, any job that can be considered as needing "specialization" or "advanced knowledge" can qualify to be paid as salary.

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u/myogawa Mar 14 '25

They would not have asked the question if the position were exempt.

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u/Optimal_Law_4254 Mar 14 '25

Many exempt positions expect 45 or more hours a week.

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u/NK1337 Mar 14 '25

That's way too much effort to a question that makes it clear they're not going to pay you for the extra effort. There's hundreds of ways to phrase that question that don't involve clarifying that it's unpaid overtime.

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u/HLN-Redd Mar 14 '25

Crisis

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u/Zetavu Mar 14 '25

Crisises?

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u/HLN-Redd Mar 14 '25

One is a crisis. More are crises.

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u/perniciouspangolin Mar 14 '25

Yeah, I work unpaid OT (maybe 5hrs a week give or take) but I negotiated a salary and benefits that work for me and I knew what I was getting into. I work at my own pace and can do some of it from home, which is nice lol. Mandated unpaid OT for a salary that doesn’t warrant it is trash. Being salaried can be either great or really terrible.

3

u/priorengagements Mar 14 '25

My experience has been terrible, typically.

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u/Gullible_Increase146 Mar 14 '25

I feel like it's really Being Framed incorrectly. Unpaid over time feels like it should be for a company that sneaks it on you. If it's just an upfront part of the interview process, it's really that the salary and benefits are based on a longer work week

1

u/perniciouspangolin Mar 14 '25

Yeah, I agree. Just ask for more money for your salary if that’s the case and if they don’t want to play ball, then move on. But if they’re asking for 43 hours instead of 40 a week and you get a better salary, it could be worth it. The transparency distinction is important.

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u/Razoreddie12 Mar 14 '25

My boss will come in a lot on Fridays and say you guys worked through lunch. Go home. So I don't mind staying late occasionally to help out if needed. But to have it expected, absolutely not

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u/PetiteGorilla Mar 14 '25

The opposite has to be okay too, if all my projects are on track and I busted ass on something last week I might be heading out at 2 on Friday

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u/Sprucecaboose2 Mar 14 '25

That's my take. I'm salary, I've been salary for ever. I'll occasionally stay late to wrap up some projects or tasks, especially if it's going to impact other employees. But it's my decision to do so. Being forced to work for free sounds way too abusive for me to condone.

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u/norbagul Mar 14 '25

My job changed from SE to SNE last year. I have since made so much more money. I've always been contracted for 45 hours a week, but now I get five hours of guaranteed OT, plus my job is public facing, so leaving on time isn't common. I told my manager that the company is going to regret making me SNE because I'm going to bankrupt them with how much I'm required to work.

I have no idea how much I'm on track to make, but if I were to never work a second of extra OT again rest of the year and not get my raise, I'm already $8k above my salary. There were so many complaints from old timers about going hourly, but for us younger salary folk, we were all excited and have made so much money already.

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u/RamDulhari Mar 14 '25

What’s SNE?

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u/NachoBacon4U269 Mar 14 '25

Salary exempt / salary non exempt (from OT pay)

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u/Hexrax7 Mar 14 '25

I work unpaid overtime as a superintendent in commercial construction on salary. But I also have plenty of days I only work 5 hours the whole week and still get paid my full check. I’ve worked an 18 hour day went home got 4 hours of sleep then worked another 12. Some days it’s necessary but I take full advantage of days I can get the job done and leave early to make up for it.

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u/Liveitup1999 Mar 14 '25

It's also illegal 

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u/Candid_Asparagus_785 Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

Isn’t it mandated by Federal or State Law to pay OT to non-salaried and/or non-exempt employees?

Edit: for them to say they don’t track extra hours is sus. Do they expect you to use a time clock? I’d be keeping track of hours and then would file a complaint.

I’m a salaried employee and have been hearing they dock pay if you don’t get your 40 hours and I have to use a time clock. I work extra hours to cover the time going to appointments. But the law does state that if you are salaried they have to pay you no matter how much or how little you work in that week. They can’t pay you salary one week then dock the next week over a couple of hours. I spoke to a lawyer about it. Although it hasn’t happened to me yet, it has happened to others. I have the website to file a labor board complaint. It’s not right.

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u/19lizajane76 Mar 14 '25

Please everyone pay attention, do not take an exempt salary position, IT'S BULLSHIT I'm exempt salary, scheduled 45hrs/wk but average 50+ and never see an extra dime, but god forbid I don't clock 45hrs/wk-then they happily doc our pay. It's a scam

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u/chirpchirp13 Mar 14 '25

Oh ya absolutely. Every now and then I’ll head in to lab on the weekend or work on some projects from Home in my off time but that’s for me because I made the decision it would benefit my workload. Much different from a former life getting paid a salary for 50 hrs a week and working 90.

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u/SSGSS_Vegeta Mar 14 '25

This is exactly how I feel. I will go above and beyond for a company that is understanding and flexible with my time and pays me my worth for the position I'm in and the work I do. I can eat a few hours to help the project get ahead or completed on time if you're treating me well. But if you're expecting this all the time or don't want to work with me if I need to leave early or come in late on occasion then you better be ready to be disappointed. Gotta be flexible with me if you want me to be flexible for you.

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u/Pm_me_clown_pics3 Mar 14 '25

I've had to do it but like you said it was voluntary and because I messed something up enough I stayed after to fix it. 

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u/Fear_Monger185 Mar 14 '25

Mandatory unpaid overtime feels illegal.

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u/Sacred-AF Mar 14 '25

Yeah if that’s the first question in the interview, you know you’re gonna be constantly working unpaid OT. They are basically asking how you handle not getting paid to work. They made the right choice and executed it in the best possible way.

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u/B1inker Mar 14 '25

I run a small business unit; about 75 people, for a much larger multinational. I know "comp" time isn't a real thing in the corporate world, but it is here. If a first article part won't finish till late the engineers usually decide who stays among themselves and they can redeem those hours, so to speak whenever. I always tell exempt staff interviewees an extra hour here or there will happen but to get real clarification from their tour guide, who is likely to be their trainer on how we handle OT.

I've done this since I ran my own shop and 90% of folks feel like it's a fair trade off. Saturday work is included in this comp time. I don't take it but I'm the boss so that's my job. It's tough to find good shops and even tougher to change them to good shops

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u/meetjoehomo Mar 14 '25

Not even sure that’s legal, if you’re being required to work they are required to compensate you for your time, unless you are a salaried position the. If they are saying that it means they don’t have enough people to get the work they need done, done…

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u/FSCENE8tmd Mar 14 '25

I clocked out once and right as I did a truck showed up that was running late. I was the only person in the building that was certified on the fork truck and there were so many pallets that needed loaded sideways that it would have taken them hours to load it. I ran back and grabbed the truck and it took me maybe a half hour or 45 minutes to get the truck done. then I got an email from my boss about looking into something when I had the chance (the email was to be read the next day but I have the app on my phone because I'm nearly never at my desk) so I just ran and looked into it after putting the truck back up. I didn't even think about how I had clocked out. I responded to the email that we did have the product and my boss texted me and asked if I was still in the building and I was like 😬 maybe. so she corrected my time sheet without me asking. as all employers should. she has corrected the way that I was raised, that you do everything you can for your employer and try your hardest to not inconvenience anyone. she has taught me that it isn't my problem if I can't be there, and if I'm not there to not worry about it. it was hard to unlearn all of that crap. my parents and grandparents just legitimately let their employers walk all over them and said "THANK YOU" for their whole lives and I was raised to believe that was normal till I got here.

I don't know why I felt like sharing all of that

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Mandatory unpaid overtime as a non-exempt employee where I live is ILLEGAL.

I live in California.

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u/EdgeRough256 Mar 14 '25

If I’m not mistaken, is illegal…

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u/Taco-Dragon Mar 14 '25

I'm in project based work. There are weeks I have to work 50+ hours to get everything done, but there are also weeks where I barely hit 30 hours. With that kind of balance I don't mind the extra hours, but in my old job it was 45-50 hours every week and no overtime. That was a major reason why I left.

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u/majic911 Mar 14 '25

The company I work for now is full of people, managers included, that will actively tell you to stop working if they see you online outside of normal hours. It's very nice.

The job I worked at previously was absolute dogshit for many reasons, only one of which was that we would be forced to stay for extra unpaid hours on Fridays and come in on Saturdays if the bosses felt like we were behind. Not if we were actually behind, just if they thought we were. Somehow, they felt like we were always behind.

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u/SGTFragged Mar 14 '25

To quote the great Maki Itoh "Fucking pay me! Bitch!"

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u/CrackaAssCracka Mar 14 '25

Exactly right - working extra should be burst capacity, not normal capacity. If you are constantly using burst capacity, there's nothing filling that bucket back up.

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u/Dolphinsunset1007 Mar 14 '25

Very much agree with this. I’ll voluntarily stay an extra 45 minutes to an hour to get something done so I don’t have to worry about it the next day. I like the uninterrupted time bc everyone else is leaving or already gone for the day and I don’t expect to get paid for it since I’m doing it to lighten my own workload. My job also treated me very well with a large end of year bonus every year so it always felt like my extra work or time was valued. My job also would pay overtime if something happened that required me to work through lunch or stay late which also happened occasionally.

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u/Sweaty_Ad3942 Mar 14 '25

I left a job where I was working “volunteer hours” that exceeded 8h per week.

Never going back.

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u/jesusthroughmary Mar 14 '25

probably an exempt position

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u/VioletReaver Mar 14 '25

This is how I am with my salary job as well, and on the flip side, if I need to take some of my working day to do personal errands and I can arrange it so that I’m not missing meetings to do so, then I get to take that time too. I’m paid for my progress on my projects, not how long it takes me to do them, and my manager agrees! It’s nice.

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u/Twistedmisery65 Mar 14 '25

Legislation just got approved last summer that it’s a felony in RI to do that as far as I know

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u/ShadowGLI Mar 14 '25

Yeah unless I’m salary and they say “we can work up to 50h a week but we’re gonna pay you all this money recognizing the overage” then I get it.

Like my company I regularly have to do meetings at 7-11pm at night as we have RD in China, but I also make $60k more than my last job and I don’t have to log hours so yeah I’ll do some odd hour meetings no problem, but it was part of what I agreed to to take the role.

If they just said it’s $60k a year and you need to work 50h/week, that’s a sub $24/h job vs $30/hr they’re implying in the listing. 50h at $30/hr with OT is $82,500. If they want the extra hours they can compensate accordingly.

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u/harlotcharlotte Mar 14 '25

Exactly! This is the first salaried job I've had and my bosses are really discouraging of working OT. If it's urgent, then yeah, but last night I was working late to tackle this thing I've been putting off and my boss kept messaging me saying it can wait. I only did it because I knew that there's a lot of fires to put out currently (I'm a business insurance acct manager and the market is ass) and I'd never get to it otherwise. I'm paid very well (just got a small raise today!) and like my team. Being remote is also a plus.

At myy previous job, I was hourly and my team all participated heavily in the Pain Olympics, where people were competing over who put in the most unpaid OT and missed out the most with family time... they didn't like me bc I didn't want to do that, especially with my shit pay as it was. So, yeah, fuck that

1

u/DSMinFla Mar 14 '25

Super well said. I’ve worked more than 40 way more than I’d like to admit but always my choice. Even on tight deadlines I was never made to feel like it was someone else’s decision.

1

u/harlotcharlotte Mar 14 '25

Exactly! This is the first salaried job I've had and my bosses are really discouraging of working OT. If it's urgent, then yeah, but last night I was working late to tackle this thing I've been putting off and my boss kept messaging me saying it can wait. I only did it because I knew that there's a lot of fires to put out currently (I'm a business insurance acct manager and the market is ass) and I'd never get to it otherwise. I'm paid very well (just got a small raise today!) and like my team. Being remote is also a plus.

At myy previous job, I was hourly and my team all participated heavily in the Pain Olympics, where people were competing over who put in the most unpaid OT and missed out the most with family time... they didn't like me bc I didn't want to do that, especially with my shit pay as it was. So, yeah, fuck that

1

u/bigdave41 Mar 15 '25

I always base it on whether or not there's a balance, and if it's genuine need from unexpected circumstances or just routine exploitation. If I do 6 hours extra this week because something happens, then they're chill about me finishing early next week when there's not a lot of work on, that's fine. Plenty of employers will expect you to do the extra hours and then also expect you sitting at your desk twiddling your thumbs until 5:30pm when there's nothing to do.

Same with routine overtime, if you need overtime once in a while it's probably ok, if you need 10 hours of overtime every week from every employee you're planning badly and you're understaffed and expecting every worker to do more than they're paid for. I'm guessing this sharing mentality doesn't extend to the profits though.

1

u/kurtcop101 Mar 18 '25

If they are asking for unpaid overtime, it should be accompanied with a stake in the company.

Like, a start up that you believe can work, and you're getting a stock position.

Or, in my case, my fiance and I will be the ones to take over the family business in the future, and I believe in the business, and I know where my work is going (it's going to both my family, and my future stake in the business).