You voluntarily accept it because there are not any other options available. Most decent paying jobs are salaried and therefore are almost forced to be taken to live a livable lifestyle. Let me provide an example and switch around the context to see if it makes a difference. Let's say we took the services of a company to build a small house and asked it to me completed in 1 month. It takes around 250 hours to complete it but you are only needing to pay 160 hours of the 250 because its only a 40 hour work week. You can clearly see the loss of value for the company? Actually, if every single customer insisted on it and refused to provide any other tenable options for the company then it go under very quickly. You can't see reversing the roles has the same exact effect?

I hate this concept of... "well you took it voluntarily" which is bullshit. Most people take it because it is the only option they have. If I had the option of taking a job that pays me the salary I make in a hourly schedule and included overtime... I would take the hourly schedule all the time. Why would I give away free labor?

Also, when you say "I think it comes down to puss poor attitude towards the business that pays your bills", come on.... you make it seem like they are doing you a fucking favor by employing you. They make a profit based on your labor value otherwise you would be on the roster to get laid off. Btw, I am not anti-business... I am just not delusional into thinking that I owe them something for employing me. It's a two way street and they are getting the better deal.

Welcome back.

Work life balance is important. It sucks that to get ahead and get into more senior positions it’s pretty much expected that you will have a shit work life balance. I’m at the point in my life where I have to make that decision. I’m not sure a 30k raise is worth it to have less time with my kids and wife. There’s also the law of diminishing returns after you make a certain amount that satisfies your needs and you can live in comfort by your standards.

I think it really depends on what type of job you have/how senior you are/pay rate etc. Some jobs or promotions you probably don’t take if you want to keep your week at 40 hours.

It sucks if you’re in junior/low skill jobs and employers try to do this kind of stuff though. I do think some employers abuse this and it’s not fair because undoubtedly there will be people that are stuck in life and absolutely do not have other options and need that paycheck so they get taken advantage of.

This post was edited by ofthevoid on Feb 19 2024 10:48pm

But I believe you do owe them something, and they are doing you a favor by employing you. You go to an employer and say to them you will exchange your time for currency. They choose you out of several candidates for the position. They have build up themselves enough to offer complete strangers jobs. You should be grateful.

You are also pretending like a salaried position means 40 hours. Salary is your employer saying they will guaranfuckingtee you a decent paycheck, no matter if you call out sick or you work extra. Guaranteed money. But if they need you to put in a little extra, you’d better fucking do it.

Sorry but anything outside the realm of your employer is taking care of you so put in a little extra hard work is telling of the most privileged society in the history of existence. There are very few exceptions where somebody is irreplaceable. If you act like everybody should be kissing your ass for doing the minimum, or for even doing a decent job, fuck you. You are paid to do well. Not to do the minimum requirements of your job and bitch every fucking time you have to man up and help your team.

Free labor is not a thing to be grateful for. The question isn't about paid labor. It's about unpaid and unscheduled labor. If your salary is based on a 50 hour workweek, and your employer is regularly demanding you work 70+ hours a week, they're receiving 20+ hours of free labor every week. That's not cause for celebration or giving thanks. It is pretty great for the profits of the employer though.

Commie talk dude.

I challenge you to name one employer who demands their hourly employees work 20 free hours a week. You cannot. You can only do word salad to make it seem like a text is worth 15 minutes and a phone call is worth an hour and you get articles like found in OP.

Your text messages aren’t worth fifteen minutes, your phone calls are not worth an hour. While you want to return to watching television and sit on the couch that your employer paid for.

I work over 70 hours on an easy week. I punch in, smoke, shit, the rest of my day is a fucking 2 Short album. I punch out when I leave. If I get home, open a beer, get called into work, I instantly get 4 hours. If I get a call and somebody says, “hey where is this product located, the system is misaligned?” I will spend a few minutes and figure it out. I don’t hold resentment for the person who called and hold information hostage. That is a dick move.

We live im the easiest lives ever lived by a general population, ever in the history of human existence. You are going to sit here and bitch about having to bring your computer home and check your fucking email while you eat Cheetos and watch Netflix? Fuck out of here dude. Y’all gonna cry because you had to answer a fucking text message and wasn’t immediately compensated? Fuck out of here dude. Y’all are the most privileged people in history. Every tiny fucking inconvenience to you demands compensation. Buck the fuck up and do it.

Not sorry this is crying pussy shit. Do your job.

Easy to give an example. Dell. Worked for them for a few years a couple decades back. They paid Salary, based on a 40 hour workweek. They used some "farm labor" thing to justify paying half, not time and a half, HALF of the regular pay for hours worked over 40. They demanded all of us work overtime. Every week. Over the course of three years my average weekly hours were 72. Dell settled a class action suit and had to pay out a fuckton over it. Will admit, receiving a $16,000 check a couple years after quitting working for that garbage company was pretty great. Didn't make up for the lost time or pay though.

You're trying to conflate employers who have the rare exceptions to employers who make extreme OT that is either unpaid or underpaid the norm. They are different. Like, I get it. If say, Intel has an implementation for a new system scheduled for Friday, and they need all hands on deck for the next 3 days, 12+ hours a day, to verify the implementation's integrity and correct any issues, that's fine. It's the rarity. And usually, that staff that would normally be working 9-5 monday through friday will receive a few days earlier in the week off to offset the upcoming implementation. That's normal, there's nothing wrong with it, and employees who whine about it can hurry up and shut the fuck up.

Two separate issues, friend.

Yea, you agreed to half time. You worked over and got paid what they said they were going to pay you.

My employer does straight salary, straight hourly, salary with OT, salary with HT, hourly with HT up until a certain amount of hours where time and a half kicks in, etc. my point is you agree to it. Stop crying.


Matter of fact put your phone down and go to work 30 minutes early this morning, I can tell they deserve it.

This post was edited by YeeHaw on Feb 20 2024 07:08am

As a point in fact, I did not "agree" to the half time. I had the choice to accept it or find a different job. I found a different job.

The best part was, for that point in time, based on a 40 hour workweek, I was well paid. Made nearly double minimum wage at a kooshy desk job, right? Thing is, once the total hours worked was figured in, I just barely slid over the minimum wage mark. Made $0.25 per hour more than minimum wage, per hours worked. And that was the entire point of why they did it. They didn't want to pay employees more than minimum wage. And many people ended up making less than minimum wage. It's why they had to settle the class action. They were in the wrong.

Oh, and they forced employees to sign an NDA prior to even being told what the pay spectrum was. Like, you could not even discuss what the compensation for the job was. And they assured employees that overtime was "rare" and "seldom required" when extending the job offer. It was fun times.

Your stance that employees should be "grateful" to work extra hours has no realistic merit. People only work for other people to fund the resources they need to build their own life. When an employer demands as a regular matter a ton of overtime, and doesn't pay overtime rates for that time, they're interferring with your ability to build your own life. You are not their tool. Your attitude on this caused an epic fuckton of businesses to fail in the late 90's and early 00's.

The fact, friend, is that employers who treat their employees well don't need to demand overtime or force their workforce to take their work home with them. The employees will be happy to do so. Respect is a two way street. Shit employers use and throw away employees at high rates, leading to the very scenario where they constantly have to call on more and more overtime from the few well trained employees, because they can't maintain a dedicated staff. It's a self-defeating proposition.

You proved the point I am trying to make. You didn’t agree to it so you found a new job. Those who did agree to it stayed. Nothing illegal happened. No “wage theft” occurred.

To the bolded. You are in a literal sense their tool. You agree to exchange your time and calories for currency. That is just life you are a tool your employer uses to keep the business going. You can bargain to get a better deal and are free to opt leave at any time. You exercised this right, couldn’t reach the deal you felt was best for you, and found a better opportunity.

I am happy to being my work home with me because my employer pays extremely well and I sleep perfectly fine at night knowing if I continue working diligently I will be set for life.

Decisions you disagree with aren’t illegal or “wage theft” by any means. I am forbidden to discuss the price per foot of 2 3/8” 4,50# j55 btc welded tubing. Oh fucking well. I get paid for what I agreed to. If my employer forbid speaking on my pay rate and how it is broken down, oh well.

Idk dude I just straight up disagree with this “wage theft” scam. I believe it comes down to piss poor attitude towards the business that was established well before you came along demanding more than they deem you are worth.