Our manager made us stay at work for two hours without paying us
I work at a home improvement store and we had a power outage that forced us to close temporarily. Our manager told everyone the time wouldn't be paid since we weren't actually working.
Fair enough, except he also told us we had to stay on the property in case the power came back. Someone asked if they could just go home and was told they'd be marked as leaving their shift early.
So about 15 of us sat outside for almost two hours doing nothing. Power eventually came back and we reopened like normal.
Checked my hours and sure enough those two hours are missing. Asked my manager about it and he said we weren't performing any work during that time.
How can you require someone to stay at work and then claim they weren't working?
Jobadvisor
1. What the Law Says: "Engaged to Wait"
- Engaged to Wait (Must Be Paid): If an employer requires you to remain on the premises, on duty, or limits your freedom so severely that you cannot use the time effectively for your own personal purposes, you are on the clock and must be paid.
- Waiting to Be Engaged (Unpaid): Time is only unpaid if you are completely relieved from duty and free to leave the property to do whatever you want for a set, definite period.
2. Steps You and Your Coworkers Can Take
Step A: Document Everything Immediately
- Date & Exact Times: The exact date and time the power went out and when it came back on.
- Manager's Instructions: Who said what, including the threat of being disciplined or marked as leaving early if anyone left.
- Witnesses: The names of the ~15 coworkers who were stuck waiting with you.
- Proof of Hours: A screenshot/copy of your timecard showing the missing hours.
Step B: Escalation Options
Option 1: Escalate to Corporate HR / Payroll (Internal)
- Contact your corporate HR Service Center or the company’s anonymous employee hotline/ethics helpline.
- What to say: "On [Date], during the power outage, store management required us to remain on the premises for two hours under threat of shift abandonment, but deducted those hours from our pay. Under FLSA guidelines on 'engaged to wait' time, hours where employees are required to stay on property are compensable. Can you please review and adjust our timecards for that shift?"
- Why this works: Corporate legal and payroll teams know FLSA law extremely well and will usually correct this immediately to avoid major legal liability or class-action claims.
Option 2: File a Wage Claim with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) or State Labor Board
- Federal Level: You can file a wage complaint with the
U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) 1-866-487-9243. - State Level: Most state Labor Boards / Departments of Labor have an online form to submit a unpaid wage claim. State laws often impose additional penalties on employers for withholding wages.
Important Protection Against Retaliation
I'm an electrician apprentice and feel like my job is a scam.
I wake up at 4:30 am, get ready and go at my boss' house at 5:45 am (we live very close to each other) to go with him to his shop. We are there by 6:30 am. And from there we go to whatever job site we have for the day.
I usually work from 7 am to noon, eat quickly for 15 minutes and then back to work until God knows when because we don't really have any fixed end time, which I hate. Same for the breaks, idk how it works. But for the past weeks I haven't been home before 6 pm. The ride back is an 1h30 long.
My boss doesn't count travel time as work, and we spend a solid 4 hours in the van just moving around. It's very tiring, and by the end of the day I'm absolutely exhausted and have zero free time for myself. I just go home, eat something fast, shower and go to bed immediately.
What do you guys think? What should I do? I really want to get my diploma but I don't think it's worth sacrificing myself for it.
Your frustration makes sense, and some of what you describe may be more than a bad schedule.
The biggest issue is the time you spend in the van between job sites. In most places, including the EU and Romania, that time during the working day counts as work, even though the drive from your home to the shop usually doesn't. Your boss may be treating it as free, but it's likely paid time. The same goes for the long days with no fixed end. If you regularly work well past 8 hours, you're probably owed overtime pay or time off in lieu, and an apprentice is covered by these rules too.
Before deciding what to do, I'd start tracking your actual hours. Write down when you leave home, arrive at the shop, start and stop at each site, when you eat, and when you get home, with dates. Keep texts or messages that show your start and end times if you can. This is the evidence you'd need for any conversation or complaint.
You can also check your rights. If you're in Romania, the Labour Inspectorate (Inspecția Muncii) can answer questions about working time, overtime, and breaks, and they handle complaints without you having to confront your boss directly. Your apprenticeship contract and your school may also have requirements about hours or the logbook you're supposed to keep. Your school is worth calling, since they may care whether you're getting the practical training you need and can sometimes help you find a better placement.
As for your boss, you could ask him directly, in writing if possible, how travel time and overtime are handled. That gives him a chance to fix it and gives you a record. If he refuses or things stay the same, you have options, including changing employers. Apprentice placements are often easier to switch than they feel, especially if you have some experience.
On the diploma, I don't think you have to pick between the diploma and your health. A job that leaves you no time to sleep, eat properly, or have a life isn't sustainable for years, and burnout could end up costing you more than the diploma is worth. But it may be possible to get the diploma with a fairer arrangement, either with a different employer, a schedule with a set end time, or clearly paid travel. Is your main worry the pay, the hours, or the exhaustion? That would help figure out which fix matters most.
Seeking advice regarding reporting my manager to HR for abuse of power and sexual harassment
This is kind of a complicated situation and before anyone jumps to the blame game instead of providing advice, yes I know I carry my own blame. I'm not posting on here to hear victim shaming.
Basically, I am a contractor and my manager has been sexually harassing me and abusing his power over me ever since I started. I made what I thought was a friend at work (let's call him Jason) and would often vent to him about what I some of the things I was going through. I needed a friend to talk to and he seemed like someone I can trust. The only reason I never reported my manager to HR was because of multiple indirect violent threats he made towards me (verbal). I told this reason to Jason and urged him to not got to HR on my behalf because I feared for my safety.
One day, Jason and my manager got into a heated argument and Jason impulsively reported my manager to HR about all the things I've been going through, with the sole intent of getting my manager fired post argument. I got scared of the potential consequences so when HR first talked to me to gauge whether or not they should launch the investigation, I skewed the truth and shut down the report, therefore, my manager was never investigated.
Jason completely cut off contact with me after that. However, Jason and I got assigned the same project recently and he refuses to work with me. Believe it or not, Jason seems to carry more of a vengeance towards me than I do towards him (for reasons I do not know). I was still willing to work with him because I'm a professional at work and dgaf about people's petty feelings, but the idea of us working together enraged him.
As a result, Jason went to my manager and spewed lies that I was running around the office telling people my manager is a pervert. This obviously turned my manager against me and he has been making my life extremely difficult. My tasks are getting blocked to cater to Jason's feelings because my manager is making me figure out the project entirely on my own (when he knows it's impossible for me to do without Jason's inputs). I told my manager that this wasn't fair and he said "Well, Jason doesn't like women because his mom abandoned him, so I sympathize with him and don't want him working with you".
I got upset that my manager is siding with Jason so I ended up telling my manager what happened with HR. I told him that Jason reported him to HR in a fit of rage as a caution for who he should be siding with. Of course my manager went and asked Jason about it, Jason lied, and my manager came back and punished me for it.
He spent the last hour of work shouting at me in front of multiple people about how I'm a liar. Without an opportunity to defend myself, he gets on a call with my recruiter and goes to a private meeting room. To me, the only thing that can mean is that he's telling my recruiter to terminate my contract.
I have several screenshots, emails, texts, and witnesses to verify that he's been sexually harassing me and abusing his power over me. I messed up by not being upfront with HR the first time around, but is it too late to go back to HR? What can I do in this instance? If my theory of him calling my recruiter with the intent to fire me is true, will going to HR change anything? How can I protect myself? Any advice is appreciated!
Jobadvisor
You're not too late to go back to HR. Many HR departments will reopen a case when someone corrects an earlier account, especially when there's documentation and a credible reason the first account was incomplete. Telling them you were scared of the threats and shut the report down is a real explanation. Your corrected account should say that directly, without minimizing or exaggerating.
Start by documenting everything today, before anything else changes. Write a timeline of the harassment, the threats (what was said, when, who was around), the argument with Jason, your conversation with your manager, the public shouting, and the private call. Note the names of witnesses. Save copies of the screenshots, texts, and emails you personally have, and store them somewhere outside company systems, such as a personal email or cloud account. Check your contract's confidentiality terms, since copying work emails can cause trouble even when they show harassment. A lawyer can tell you what's safe to keep and how to use it.
Then write to HR, by email so there's a timestamp. Keep it factual and organized: that you want to reopen your earlier report, that you previously gave an incomplete account because you were afraid of the threats, what the threats were, and what's happened since, including the retaliation, the blocked tasks, and the private call with your recruiter. Ask them to preserve all records, including communications about the project, the recruiter call, and anything from Jason. Ask them in writing whether your contract is being terminated and, if so, for what reason.
Your recruiter works for the staffing agency, not the client company, so contact the agency directly as well. Tell them what happened and ask what the process is if your contract is ended. Put that in writing too. Agencies have their own obligations, and they may not know the full situation.
If you feel you're in immediate danger because of the threats, call emergency services (112 in the EU, 911 in the US). If you're in Romania, the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) and the Labour Inspectorate can take complaints about harassment and retaliation, and contractors are often covered more than people expect. If you're in the US, the EEOC has strict filing deadlines, so don't wait. Many countries also have free legal aid clinics or union legal help that deal with exactly this.
Try to limit contact with your manager and Jason to what's necessary for work, and keep those exchanges in writing. Don't discuss the case with coworkers, since that gives your manager something new to use against you.
Finally, this is a lot to carry alone. Talking to a counselor, or someone you trust outside work, can help you keep your head clear while you deal with it.
Where are you located? The specific protections and deadlines depend a lot on the country, and I can point you to the right agencies once I know.
How do you improve your chances of passing a second-round interview with a hiring manager or department head?
Hi everyone,
I'm a fresh graduate currently applying for entry-level AI and Data roles, and I'd like to get some advice on second-round interviews.
From what I understand, the first interview usually focuses more on technical knowledge, project experience, and whether you meet the basic requirements of the role. The second interview, especially when it's with a hiring manager, team lead, or head of department, seems to focus more on whether you're the right person for the team in the long run.
For example, I assume they want to assess things like:
Whether you can apply your technical knowledge to actual business problems.
How you approach problems, make decisions, and handle challenges.
Whether you're willing and able to learn, adapt, and grow with the team.
Whether you're a good fit for the team's working style and the company's direction.
Whether they can see you adding value beyond simply completing assigned tasks.
However, I'm still unsure how to communicate these qualities effectively during an interview.
For those who were experienced, I'd appreciate your insights on a few questions:
What are hiring managers or department heads actually looking for in the second round? What differentiates a candidate they like from one they decide to reject?
How do you structure your answers to stand out? Are there particular approaches, examples, or ways of explaining your thought process that leave a strong impression?
How do you demonstrate long-term value as a fresh graduate when you don't have much full-time work experience yet?
What are some common mistakes candidates make in the second round? For example, being too technical, giving overly generic answers, or trying too hard to impress.
What questions should candidates ask the hiring manager to demonstrate genuine interest and a good understanding of the role?
As I can mostly pass the first-round interview (technical interview), but kinda hard to pass these 2nd interviews, so I want to understand how to communicate my strengths and potential more effectively, particularly when interviewing with someone who will directly manage me or make the final hiring decision.
I'd appreciate advice from both interviewers and candidates who have been through this process. Real examples of what worked or didn't work would be especially helpful.
Thanks in advance!
Jobadvisor
Second rounds usually test whether you'd be good to work with every day, not just whether you know the material. A hiring manager is asking: can I trust this person to take a problem off my plate, explain their work clearly, make sensible calls when the answer isn't obvious, and tell me when something's wrong? Your first-round success shows you can do the work. The second round is about how you think and communicate, so that's where to focus your preparation.
What hiring managers look for, and what sinks candidates. The candidates they like tend to connect technical work to a business outcome without being prompted. They can say why a problem mattered, what they chose and why, what they gave up in exchange, and how they'd know if it worked. The candidates who get rejected usually fall into a few patterns: they explain the model or the code but not the purpose, they give polished answers that sound rehearsed, they have no opinion when asked what they would do, or they treat a project as a finished thing rather than something that needed judgment. Many managers also quietly assess whether the candidate asks good questions, since that signals curiosity and seriousness.
How to structure your answers. For project questions, start with the business question in one or two sentences, then explain your approach, the key decision you made, and why you made it. Include one trade-off you considered, such as a simpler model that was easier to explain versus a more accurate one that was harder to maintain. End with the result, including what you measured and what you'd do differently. Interviewers often care more about your reasoning than your conclusion, so narrate your thinking as you go. Saying "my first check would be whether the labels were reliable, because everything downstream depends on that" is far more convincing than listing the algorithms you tried.
Showing long-term value without much experience. Focus on evidence of how you work rather than how long you've worked. Pick two or three school projects, internships, competitions, or personal projects that involved real messy data, and show that you owned them end to end: you defined the question, cleaned the data, communicated results to someone non-technical, and handled something that went wrong. Specific examples of learning quickly in a new tool or domain are also strong evidence. Be honest about what you haven't done yet, and say how you'd ramp up. A rough sense of what you'd want to understand in your first three months signals maturity.
Common mistakes. Being too technical is one, but so is the opposite: vague answers like "I'm a passionate learner who loves AI." Other frequent errors include buzzword-heavy answers that don't say what was actually built, criticizing a previous team or project, avoiding questions about mistakes, and having no view on the company's product or data. Many candidates also answer the question they expected rather than the one asked, so it helps to pause and make sure you understood it before responding.
Good questions to ask. Strong questions show you're thinking about the job itself. Some options: What would success look like in the first six months? What's the biggest data quality or infrastructure problem the team is dealing with right now? How do models or analyses move from experiment to production here? How does the team decide what to work on, and how do requests from the business get prioritized or pushed back on? What have people who did well in this role done differently from those who struggled? How is feedback usually given on the team?
Practical prep. Prepare three or four stories you can adapt to different questions. Practice explaining one project to a non-technical friend in two minutes, since that's often closer to what a manager needs than a deep technical walkthrough. Spend time on the company's product and think about where data and AI could help it, then bring one or two thoughtful observations, framed as questions rather than prescriptions. Finally, send a short follow-up note within a day that reinforces one specific point from the conversation.
If you want, share a project you've worked on and I can help you turn it into a clear two-minute answer.