Overtime pay is a simple concept: If you have to work more than planned then you should get paid more.
But it's evolved into something more cynical, with companies expecting employees to work extra hours as part of the job and employees jumping to exploit loopholes for extra cash.
Here are 10 people who gamed the system and earned their overtime.
1
“Amtrak Employees Claimed to Work 40 Hours Per Day”
A 2015 audit of Amtrak showed that many employees worked impossible overtime.
2
Track Foreman Passes Away
A Long Island Rail Road foreman named Michael Ollek was killed on the job in 2017. Reportedly, he earned $152,000 in overtime the year prior. Some believed exhaustion played a role in his death.
3
Long Island Railroad
Thomas Caputo, a Chief Measurement Operator at the Long Island Railroad, earned $344,000 in overtime. Overtime is considered a big problem for budgets, but it’s caused by understaffing.
4
Psych-Ward Crazy Pay
Denise Williams, a security training assistant, earned $231,113 in overtime in 2019.
5
Drones to Combat Overtime
The Japanese company Taisei decided to start using drones in 2017 to monitor employees working excessive overtime.
6
Game Stop Competition Price: 10 Hours of Overtime
One Game Stop made the news in 2020 when it held a TikTok competition. The prize for the winner? The privilege to work 10 hours of overtime.
7
“Amazon Workers Use Bots to Claim Limited Supply of Time Off”
According to 404 Media, paid time off slots for Amazon workers can be so hard to come by that some are using bots to grab those slots as soon as they become available.
8
Phone Rep Pay Bump
One phone rep claimed they upped their monthly salary from just over $1,000 to almost $3,000, thanks to 85 hour weeks.
9
BART
A BART janitor earned $162,000 extra last year on 2,485 extra hours of overtime. He also took five weeks of vacation during the year. That means Liang Zhao Zhang averaged over 52 hours of OVERTIME a week, each week he chose to work.
10
Mandatory Weekend Overtime
“I’ll be gone soon.”
