Frustrated and need advice

[snugglegirl05]

I work as a fuel center lead for a major grocery store retailer

This major grocery store retailer has fuel centers at several locations that are attached to their grocery store locations

There are only 3 employees working at the fuel center, and so there is an opener who works 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. 7 days a week and a closer who works 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. 7 days a week

Earlier this year there were several notices posted by the time clocks stating the following... No overtime allowed, All employees must work their scheduled shift and not stay past the end of their scheduled shift, no clocking in early or late

There is a front end employee who covers the closing shift whenever one of the fuel center employees is on vacation

The problem with this employee is that according to the other front end employees he is never on time

He arrives to work 30 minutes or more late to work on a consistent basis

According to one of the assistant store managers this employee has already been spoken to by them several times regarding his always coming to work late, but this employee is still late to work

A couple of weeks ago I received a group text that included the store manager as well as 10 other employees *and I am guessing the other 10 employees are Senior level managers*

The store manager attached a screen shot of all the employees at the grocery store location the fuel center is attached to who have too much overtime, and my name was on that screen shot

The store manager responded No overtime

Store management is already aware of the front end employee, who covers the closing shift at the fuel center when needed, always arriving late to work

However, according to the assistant manager who already spoke to this employee about his always arriving late to work, the store manager does not know this

I am currently working the opening shift 5 days this week since the other employee who works the opening shift is on vacation this week, and this employee works the closing shift 2 days I work the opening shift

According to the assistant manager, the fuel center employees who work the opening shift have to wait for the employees who work the 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. closing shift since he does not want the fuel center kiosk window unattended if someone in Senior Management arrives for a visit

He also does not want to be the one who gets reprimanded if and when that happens and the fuel center kiosk window is unattended because the fuel center opener clocked out at 2 p.m. due to their not being allowed to get overtime

According to the assistant manager, he has to do what is right for the business.

So, what is the best way to handle this considering I received a group text a couple of weeks ago regarding no overtime allowed?

[Seanette]

I'd be leaning toward malicious compliance myself. "But boss, you insisted I cannot have ANY overtime, so I HAD to leave at my scheduled time no matter what."

They can't stand to schedule a little shift-change overlap?

[RealUnimportant]

Yeah, I concur. They can't have it all ways to their benefit; if they're not paying you, you cannot work by law in many places. If they don't want to pay overtime, they need to schedule things to avoid it, either by giving you proper shift overlaps or picking someone more reliable than a chocolate fireguard.

[Nunavut Pants]

Get it in writing! Tell your manager that you want written authorization to work overtime, against policy. This is a major CYA.

If he won't put it in writing, then close the place when your shift is over, or at least leave the window unattended.

If he won't give you written permission for overtime any time your coverage is late, then ask for written permission to leave the window unattended when your hours are up.

Document, document, document!

[snugglegirl05]

I was told on Monday of this week by the assistant manager I mentioned in my post to call one of the store managers instead of the front end manager, who is over the fuel center and makes the work schedule for the fuel center, to let them know that this habitually late employee has not arrived at the fuel center

The assistant manager I mentioned in my post wants me to wait 10 minutes before calling a store manager regarding that particular employee not arriving to work even though he is 30 minutes or more late to work on a consistent basis

So, I did that on Monday and was told by the other assistant manager who answered my call 1) that one of the store managers would call that employee to find out if he was coming to work and 2) to wait for him to arrive at the fuel center

He arrived at roughly 2:40 p.m. even though I worked 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day

The same thing happened on Thursday of this week.

But this time a different assistant manager was in charge, and he told me he would talk to him about his always arriving late to work

The problem is this… Store management has repeatedly told him he cannot always arrive late to work yet he still does

I was also told by that assistant manager to wait until the employee arrived at work

He arrived at work at roughly 2:35 p.m.

[Kristev]

You may need to discuss this with the store manager, or just plain corporate. This comedy of errors can be solved in only three ways: They restore overtime, they hire a reliable staff to work from 1 to 11, or they expect you to work without being paid. In which case you turn them in to the authorities, and then to the media.

[snugglegirl05]

You may need to discuss this with the store manager, or just plain corporate. This comedy of errors can be solved in only three ways: They restore overtime, they hire a reliable staff to work from 1 to 11, or they expect you to work without being paid. In which case you turn them in to the authorities, and then to the media.

The fuel center is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. 7 days a week

[Pixilated]

Yeah, I concur. They can't have it all ways to their benefit; if they're not paying you, you cannot work by law in many places. If they don't want to pay overtime, they need to schedule things to avoid it, either by giving you proper shift overlaps or picking someone more reliable than a chocolate fireguard.

Exactly. They don't want to pay overtime but they want you to sit there UNPAID until the chronically late employee condescends to show up. They are penalizing you for that worker's tardiness and for their refusal to deal with it. Either they pay you the OT, or you get to shut down and walk away and leave the place unstaffed until the CW shows up.
The place where I work (corporate grocery store), the supervisor marches up and tells you to GET OUT at the end of your shift.
I also hope you are looking for another job. When you find one, you might want to consider quitting without notice.

[EricKei]

Assuming it's the US: As it sounds like the business is big enough for the FLSA to apply, Federal Law says you cannot work without being paid for it. IIRC, the wording is something along the lines of "Employees cannot be required nor allowed to work without compensation."