2 ms·

Employers that fail to compensate their employees in the agreed upon manner are incredibly scummy and you should run very fast in the other direction. That sai

by munk-a 5y ago

Employers that fail to compensate their employees in the agreed upon manner are incredibly scummy and you should run very fast in the other direction. That said if the person who runs payroll was suddenly sick for three days in a row getting your payment two days late is acceptable. It's a question of the magnitude of lateness - if ever your employer says they'll "make sure you get double next pay period" it's a good sign to leave - and they're still obligated to pay you for the previous pay period regardless of how undiplomatically you exit. You also need to realize that a lot of Americans work paycheck to paycheck so an employer failing their obligation can cause financial hardship and possibly force debt (with the accompanying interest) on their employee.

gruez 5y ago
>Employers that fail to compensate their employees in the agreed upon manner are incredibly scummy and you should run very fast in the other direction That... depends? If you're salaried and your employer missed a paycheck I'd agree it's scummy, because it's hard they screwed that up. However, if you're being compensated variably (eg. hourly or on commission), and you got paid incorrectly because of some random failure (eg. timesheet got lost/buried, sales numbers got delayed due to ERP issues) I think it's excusable if it was fixed in a timely manner.
- munk-a 5y ago
  I agree with that yes - if your employer resolves the situation quickly without causing you stress that's fair. However - it's their obligation, above all else, to make sure you're getting paid. If this sort of error occurs repeatedly due to someone unqualified to handle the books then your employer should rectify the situation. I think it's fair - while that money is tied up in limbo - to essentially cease working. That provides a very clear incentive and attaches a level of importance to the incident that should prompt your employer to correct in the future. Everyone makes mistakes - we're all human - however recovering denied wages is a very difficult legal fight that often results in failure due to debt shenanigans and the like. As an employee you need to be incredibly defensive about any interruption to your pay stream.
- hatchnyc 5y ago
  Here's an example: a retail store has several KPI they must hit set by corporate. One is some kind of metrics on work performed, another is not allowing above some level of overtime hours. Officially, working off the clock is a fireable offense, but no controls are in place to catch this, meanwhile the work done metrics are closely monitored. Expected KPI numbers are ratcheted up and managers are placed in intense competition with each other. Managers have been promoted internally and do not have better career options, some significant number of employees badly need their job and routinely agree to work late. This is a self-reinforcing cycle--eventually the only way to meet your targets is to "cheat". This is an incredibly common practice. Employees may come to believe some version of, "this sucks, but that's just how it is". Meanwhile employers and management have complete deniability and can point to company policy saying this is explicitly not allowed.
  - goodpoint 5y ago
    Even various FAANGs do something quite similar: overtime is allowed, unmetered and unpaid. At the same time employees are [secretly] stack ranked and everybody knows that the expectation is to work 50 hours a week to survive in the company. That's a 25% more work than 40 hours. Not a rounding error.
    - munk-a 5y ago
      At FAANGs (and in most other tech companies) employees are salaried so overtime is never required to be metered - this is different from hourly work which does require accounting of those hours. There is nothing legally stopping you from being asked to put in 60 hours for the same rate at Google - if you're on the receiving end of it you need to decide for yourself if it's worth it.

by munk-a 5y ago

gruez 5y ago

>Employers that fail to compensate their employees in the agreed upon manner are incredibly scummy and you should run very fast in the other direction That... depends? If you're salaried and your employer missed a paycheck I'd agree it's scummy, because it's hard they screwed that up. However, if you're being compensated variably (eg. hourly or on commission), and you got paid incorrectly because of some random failure (eg. timesheet got lost/buried, sales numbers got delayed due to ERP issues) I think it's excusable if it was fixed in a timely manner.

munk-a 5y ago
I agree with that yes - if your employer resolves the situation quickly without causing you stress that's fair. However - it's their obligation, above all else, to make sure you're getting paid. If this sort of error occurs repeatedly due to someone unqualified to handle the books then your employer should rectify the situation. I think it's fair - while that money is tied up in limbo - to essentially cease working. That provides a very clear incentive and attaches a level of importance to the incident that should prompt your employer to correct in the future. Everyone makes mistakes - we're all human - however recovering denied wages is a very difficult legal fight that often results in failure due to debt shenanigans and the like. As an employee you need to be incredibly defensive about any interruption to your pay stream.
hatchnyc 5y ago
Here's an example: a retail store has several KPI they must hit set by corporate. One is some kind of metrics on work performed, another is not allowing above some level of overtime hours. Officially, working off the clock is a fireable offense, but no controls are in place to catch this, meanwhile the work done metrics are closely monitored. Expected KPI numbers are ratcheted up and managers are placed in intense competition with each other. Managers have been promoted internally and do not have better career options, some significant number of employees badly need their job and routinely agree to work late. This is a self-reinforcing cycle--eventually the only way to meet your targets is to "cheat". This is an incredibly common practice. Employees may come to believe some version of, "this sucks, but that's just how it is". Meanwhile employers and management have complete deniability and can point to company policy saying this is explicitly not allowed.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  Even various FAANGs do something quite similar: overtime is allowed, unmetered and unpaid. At the same time employees are [secretly] stack ranked and everybody knows that the expectation is to work 50 hours a week to survive in the company. That's a 25% more work than 40 hours. Not a rounding error.
  - munk-a 5y ago
    At FAANGs (and in most other tech companies) employees are salaried so overtime is never required to be metered - this is different from hourly work which does require accounting of those hours. There is nothing legally stopping you from being asked to put in 60 hours for the same rate at Google - if you're on the receiving end of it you need to decide for yourself if it's worth it.