Ok... Who all's ever been suspended from work, for leaving 2 minutes early..


A couple of weeks ago, I was suspended from work for logging off my phone at 5:58, instead of 6:00. 2 measly minutes. ANyways, they said they were suspending me until further notice, and they would contact me.

I told them that they would have a hard time getting through since my mother is a telemarketer and uses our phone constantly throughout the day and night.

I contacted them and left a couple messages, and recieved no word from them. Then, on wednesday, I got a letter in the mail saying that if I didn't call someone there by May 11th, my job would be considered forfeit.

I contacted my leader (boss) on May 11th and spoke to him, told him about the letter, and he told me that he himself was even unaware of theletter. He was already under the impression that I had forfeit my job already. I told him about the letter (biting my tongue from callinghim a ****ing moron all during the call) and he said that he would have to talk to some people and to call him back on Friday. Which I did.

I contacted him on friday, however he wasn't in his office. SO I left yet another message. To this day, I have yet to recieve any calls back from him.


I just got off the phone with the Employee Standards Information Centre (to find out what my legal rights were) and they told me basically im ****ed. There's nothing that can be done for the simple reason that they only handle termination of employment for unreasonable reasons, and that anything coming from suspensions for any reason, even unreasonable, isn't what they deal with and is the company's individual policy.

Basically, each company has their own policy for suspension, which the ESI (employee standards information) doesn't deal with. Hence, I am ****ed and there's not a thing I can do.


This is totally ****. I need a joint. :p

Basically, the law sides with the companies. They can fire you for a bad hair day (even if your a telemarkter). Things they can't fire you for are Age, Sex, Race, etc. Unfortunately, that's difficult to prove unless they espicitely state it somewhere.

Now, there are some things to look out for:

-If you (or someone you know) over-hears the reason for your termination, no matter what it is, then you may have legal recourse with them. But this isn't likely in your situation even if they do tell because you didn't commit (or were accused of committing) a crime.

-If you don't recieve your final pay check in the specified amount of time. Check the law in your area for details. A lot of states is 3 days. Some states or specific jobs they have to pay you before you leave the premises. In other states there is no law governing it specifically. However, in most states that do not have a law specifically governing it, there's form you can fill out and send to your company in which tells them how much they owe you. They have 10-days to comply. If they don't, then you can take legal action against them. The companies will generally settle out of court because in court they'll be hit with large fines for not complying.

Yeah, they have 7 days in the area I live. They suspended me like 3 weeks ago now, and I recieved that letter on May 9th, contacted them on May 11th, and that was the last time I spoke to them.

If you had stayed on for those 2 minutes you were supposed to, you wouldn't be in this predicament.

Just what could have happened in those 2 mins that the phone was off?

I worked for Facilities Management this quarter at RIT... the higher ups would get pissed off if you clocked out even a minute early. Yeah, sometimes the rules seem pointless, but its best to just follow them. My co-workers and I would just stand around the timeclock for a few minutes at the end of our shifts talking and waiting to punch out.

So get a different job. If your current company made that big a fuss over two minutes I'd have quit anyway.

DSettahr, We used to do the same at my old place, even some of the contact managers

You'd be surprised at how many companies will make a fuss about employees leaving two minutes early, or other stupid stuff. It's something you have to get used to in the "real world."

As my 9th grade math teacher put it, if everyone left class 2 minutes early, in a month we'd lose an entire class period (40 minutes). Lost time adds up.

We only get paid by the 15 minute marks on the clock so if we punch in at 6:01 and punch out at 6:59 we only get paid half an hours wages... and if they see us not working waiting for the clock to change over we get SCREAMED at.

We don't have cut and dry shifts though; we go home whenever we're not needed anymore.

1. It's 2 measly minutes taht affects the company in no way whatsoever negatively

2. They can avoid having to pay me overtime with the possibility of me ending up taking another call and ahving to stay an hour or so

3. The company has strict rules on scheduling, basically, you have to schedule your life around the job in the sense that one week youll be working weekends and nights, and the next youll be working the week with day shifts, it changes. It's enough for a job to do that (especially when they didnt let us know this ahead of time) and expect you to stay overtime..

THe reason people log out early is that if they take another call at like 5:59, it could be any length of a call. Even an hour. People dont want to work overtime if they dont feel liek it, myself included. It states so in the employee act that no company for any reason can FORCE a worker to work overtime, even if needed, the worker cannot get reprimanded in any way and does not have to work overtime.

4. I have things to do at night, and as i said before, im not working overtime if i dont have to. I got my life scheduled that I enjoy quite much, and it's enough to have to schedule it around the work schedule, and on top of that, having to wait and se if you have to work overtime or not.

Im not the only one complaining about this, 98% of the place complains about this, unfortunately like all other corporations, they don't listen to their employees.

True...

You're not goign to hold jobs for vey long with that attitude, Temp.

I think you lucked out there, Temp. Do you have a workload you're expected to meet in a day? Are you above or below the level you're supposed to be getting through? Leaving 2 minutes early if you're otherwise doing a good job is nothing for them to get upset over.

At my job the place is a ghost town by 8.55, and by 9 there might possibly be 1 manager left finishing a report.

Nope Spork, there's no reason that the 2 minutes should be taken as a serious offence.

I log into the phone, and I begin taking calls, right up until I log out at the designated time. The only thing that 2 minutes would affect is me taking literally one call or not.

Avenger - I think that since it states in the actual Employee standards act that no employer can force their employee to work overtime unless the employee agrees or wants to, I am justified in being angry about this and them being wrong.

To a cerain point, but at the smae time you were hired to work from said starting time to said ending time. You're not doing your job as you were hired to do. And yes, you're right, that you can;t be forced to work overtime, but that doesn't mean you can clock out early either. I know it's being picky, but to minutes turns to five, then to fifteen and so on with the typical work force. That's what the company is trying to prevent by being anal about this.

I agree with you Avenger, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying it's going a little too far when you fire an employee or do this to him for something as trivial as that.

I'd be pissed as well. I've done the exact same thing at jobs in my day as well. Just bringing in a management perspective. That's all.

But thats a stupid point anyways. I've never been in a class where we did productive work right until the final bell. Usually you end up standing around for 5 minutes or so after class anyway, so the time is not really lost at all. And if the lesson is still going on right up to the bell I don't think any students will just walk out early while the teacher is talking.

Man, I love my job...

You work until they say they don't need you or when your shift ends. If you clock out 25 minutes early, they don't care. (Unless you leave without asking)

Of course, they also do not pay overtime...