Exempt. Fucking EXEMPT. That job should not be exempt but it is by federal standards and its fucking criminal. It was literally on the very border of what you could call exempt and non-exempt based on JD alone and not salary (Pay was shit, they had to pay 2.5x to replace me, More of my fault and not getting out sooner, that guy lasted 2 months and rage quit). I am smarter than that shit now. No, I was not even given flex or comp time. Sometimes, if the boss thought I was about to quit they would say "take a day off, paid, don't record it as PTO".
The only reason the boss probably never went after me is with how well I recorded my time and how much I backed up on my own with com's otherwise they probably would have thought they could go after me. I probably have a labor case that would end them but its been too long and I am over it. Never again though and I make a big point to try to help people understand when they are getting fucked and help them get out of those positions now.
I hear ya. One feels used and abused when treated like that, and rightly so. Up here in the sticks (in my situation) there were very very few alternatives for CS/EE employment of interest to me in the area, and that was before the days of telecommuting options. I felt as stuck as a slave in a salt mine. No way to push back against the outrageous workload and shitty compensation unless I moved to another state, but I really didn't want to do that so I put up with it.
I could have used a career mentor back in my 20s, it could have made a big difference in my salary over my career. I essentially took what they were giving.
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