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Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

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Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#81

I worked for a restaurant that did this to me. To make sure I hit the "minimum hours" (when you start talking about hours vs tasks or responsibilities you probably aren't getting into a legitimate salary arrangement) they would have me clock in and out, and I'd get pay stubs with 40 hours (less if I worked less) and the overtime hours paid at $0. They withheld my last paycheck when I quit and stopped responding to my…

> Couple weeks later they send me a check for 20 grand out of the blue

Glad this ended up working out in your favor. Your story makes me wonder how often such a practice doesn't end with the employer forking up the 20 grand they stole. I guess I've heard it said that wage theft is the most common form of theft but this is still rather frustrating to think about.

Does this sort of practice come with some other punishment or does the board just tell the employer to pay what's owed?

Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#82
There's more nuance to this topic than "Company bad! They trick dumb labor into a bad deal!"

Money isn't the only form of compensation a job can provide. Give a low level worker a $0.43 cent raise, and they won't give a crap, it's not enough to change anything. But give them an 'employee of the month' medal and a new title, arguably worth much less than $0.43 cents, and they may actually prefer it! It's something for their resume, something to tell their mother about, these things adds prestige and dignity to a hard job that may have none.

Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about "offering" enough money it's about companies that are deliberately classifying employees as "managers" when they're anything but for the purposes of avoiding having to pay the employees overtime.

It's just semantics, you're not compelled to stay and work for someone who is low-balling you.

The people aren't compelled to let you to continue to peaceably do business in their country if you don't wish to follow their laws.

Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#85
post #82

There's more nuance to this topic than "Company bad! They trick dumb labor into a bad deal!" Money isn't the only form of compensation a job can provide. Give a low level worker a $0.43 cent raise, and they won't give a crap, it's not enough to change anything. But give them an 'employee of the month' medal and a new title, arguably worth much less than $0.43 cents, and they may actually prefer it! It's something for…

I was once a low-level worker who got a $0.75 raise and I cared enough to find a better job. Had nothing to do with my lack of "employee of the month" medal but rather the fact that I couldn't pay rent every month without adding to my credit card debt.

Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#86
post #70

Was once a senior engineer at a small-ish office of a fairly large company. We had a particularly high-strung junior engineer that was prone to throwing fits if he didn't get his way. Apparently, one day, he threatened to quit for another offer. He was placated with some trivial pay increase and promotion to lead engineer (essentially leap-frogging the other seniors in the office in title - but not in pay). Except no…

Oh boy, how did that play out? I feel as though it's a give a mouse a cookie situation with people power tripping like that, I can't imagine it resolving well until they leave...

Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#87

I worked at a university in Florida that did this to me. I was being made to work overtime on a few software projects and making a nice little amount of extra money. Then one day I found out that I was being "promoted" to a manager title. No raise or any extra benefits, but I was no longer allowed to get overtime. It was part of a campus-wide initiative to cut costs. And now that I was a manager I was expected to wor…

Just curious: are you able to refuse a promotion. Especially this kind of “promotion”? What happens then? Do you get fired because… reasons or do you just keep your current job title etc?

Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#88
post #38

Start sending manager and hr to jail for wage theft. If an employee falsified timesheets they can and have been convicted of theft. Why isn’t the reverse true? Jail is a huge motivating factor and why you don’t see wide spread accounting fraud in public companies.

No, you should quit instead. Making offering not enough money to someone a criminal offense sounds like a dangerous ground to stand on.

This is about following the law. Has nothing to do with offering money. Manager is a defined role with specific responsibilities and tasks.

Re: Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles

#89
post #38

Start sending manager and hr to jail for wage theft. If an employee falsified timesheets they can and have been convicted of theft. Why isn’t the reverse true? Jail is a huge motivating factor and why you don’t see wide spread accounting fraud in public companies.

No, you should quit instead. Making offering not enough money to someone a criminal offense sounds like a dangerous ground to stand on.

> offering not enough money

This is not what would be illegal. Wage theft is actual theft in the sense that they knowingly have something (and even sometimes attempt to retain the something) which is legally not theirs. Yes, the worker should quit. Yes, the worker should go after what's owed them. These things aren't mutually exclusive.

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