When working an hourly job, it’s important to always clock in and out at the right times to ensure you get paid for your entire shift. There’s nothing worse than forgetting, and then suddenly realizing that your first half hour on the job won’t be compensated. But along with tracking the beginning and end of your day, your employer will also ask you to meticulously track your breaks. And as one clever baker found out, the punch system can sometimes be utilized to get even more than 30 minutes off, if you just know what you’re doing… Below, you’ll find the full story that this mischievous former baker recently shared on the Malicious Compliance subreddit, as well as an interview between Bored Panda and the employee himself. 

After being reprimanded for unintentionally taking too long of a break, this baker started investigating exactly how the punch system worked

Image credits: mr.newhaven (not the actual photo)

And he was pleased to find out that he could utilize the system to his advantage

Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Ok_Ganache2137

The former baker later responded to some questions from readers and provided additional info

“I’m not certain I was the only one it ever happened to, but it wouldn’t surprise me”

To learn more about this situation, we reached out to the former baker in question, Ok_Ganache2137 on Reddit, and he was kind enough to have a chat with us. First, we wanted to know what inspired him to share this story now. “Funnily enough, reading an article on Bored Panda,” he revealed. “I often read articles there coming from Malicious Compliance and AITA. I had a Reddit account but was seldom using it. Everytime I read a compliance story on Bored Panda, I wanted to go on Reddit and post that story.”

“A few days ago, I read one about a guy that sat down and waited, since the boss was cutting 15 minutes if they were 1 minute late. Gave me the push I needed to go and publish my story,” the former baker told Bored Panda. And we’re so glad he did!

We were also curious how it was possible that Ok_Ganache2137’s boss had never realized the potential for this happening before. “I’m not certain I was the only one it ever happened to, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Every cashier would go on break at n:00, n:15, n:30 or n:45, as planned by the shift supervisor,” he explained.

“Bakers did have the opportunity to go on break when they wanted, but most had their routines and went on the break at the same time each day,” he continued. “Say baker A from 10:30 to 11:00 and baker B from 17:45 to 18:15. So they would have to be at least 8 minutes late back from break to have it round to 45 minutes.”

Apparently, it’s quite common for timesheets to be rounded to the nearest increment of 15

Image credits: Bob Clark (not the actual photo)

We then asked Ok_Ganache2137 what his thoughts were on this job overall and why he decided to move on to something else a few months later. “I loved the people I worked with,” he told Bored Panda. “The job was okay, the work practice not so. I moved in with my girlfriend who was living on the other side of town. I don’t have a car and walked to work. Public busses would have taken me 1½ hours, so I looked for somewhere closer to home. Finding a job that pays more than minimum wages was also a big incentive.”

The former baker also noted that his former employer was very picky about breaks being no more than 30 minutes. “My 31-minute break, while not scandalous, would still be considered a fault,” he said. “I would have been good, since I did take 1-2 or minutes on my way back to fix a work related problem before punching back in. But 8+ minutes, inexcusable.”

Finally, we wanted to know if this former baker had any suggestions for how the punching system could be improved. “Rounding to the minute,” he noted. “Prior to that job, I was working at another fast-food chain (The big M), and that’s what they did. Got there a few minutes early, they were in a rush and asked if you didn’t mind coming in ASAP? Had a big order right before out time and wanted to complete it? You were paid for these minutes you worked.”

“They could have also done what they said they were doing and rounding the actual time you were on break, instead of the time you clocked in,” he added.

But legally, this time rounding is not supposed to favor the employer or be used to cut labor costs

Image credits: Visual Karsa (not the actual photo)

As it turns out, it’s a quite common practice for punch systems to round up or down to the nearest 15 minute increment. And it is legal, at least in the United States, according to the Department of Labor. This practice appears to be standard in Canada as well, where one survey from TSheets found that 60% of employees said their bosses round their timesheets to the nearest increment of 15. 

But there are a few guidelines that are supposed to be followed when it comes to time clock rounding. According to Hourly, it’s important that this rounding is not used as a means for cutting labor costs in any way or used to favor the employer. And it’s important to keep in mind that, at least in the United States, the maximum rounding increment allowed by the FLSA is 15 minutes. So if your employees show up at 8:10am, you cannot mark their start time as 8:30am.

At the end of the day, the important thing is that all employees get their jobs done and take appropriate breaks when necessary. What’s a few minutes here and there right? And as this employee noted themself on Reddit, they would have never tried to find a loophole in the system if their boss had not assured them that the punch system is law. After all, they were just complying with company policy! (With only a tad bit of malice included…)

We would love to hear your thoughts on this situation below, pandas. Have you ever worked somewhere with a system like this? Then if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article featuring an employee who maliciously complied to clocking in and out rules at work, look no further than right here!

Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk (not the actual photo)

Many readers applauded the baker for his malicious compliance, and some even shared similar ways they’ve beat the system at work

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