This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/random_tingler on 2024-10-19 11:52:59+00:00.

I’ve been working as a lead in an IT firm from India that supports a US client.

I have a manager here in India who approves my PTO, handles performance reviews, and meets with us a few times a month. His and the management’s view is that the work we do is for the client, but we should also contribute to the organization. So, we’re encouraged to take up additional tasks like recruiting or preparing business reviews. Essentially, we need to be available during the day.

I also have another manager in the USA, who is Indian as well. He coordinates with the customer and handles any escalations related to our work. His main concern is ensuring there are zero escalations from the client.

The clients assign us projects, and we interact with them directly. We have meetings every day, usually lasting at least two hours.

Since we’re paid a monthly salary, there’s no extra money for additional hours worked. Both managers take advantage of this. There are no strict working hours, but we must be available from 7 PM to 10 PM IST, which corresponds to 9 AM to 12 PM US time.

Typically, we start working at 10 AM, continue until 5 PM, and then resume from 7 PM to 10 PM. Sometimes, meetings with clients extend an extra 30 minutes to an hour. Our US manager connects with us after the meetings with client.

One day, I had a lot of work to finish and decided to work from home instead of commuting. I had a 3-hour client meeting followed by a knowledge transition session, so I was fully occupied.

The onsite manager asked me to schedule a meeting with him. I told him my day was packed till mid night. He refused and said he needed 30 minutes of my time. I asked if he could join a little earlier before my meetings, but he said no. Then I asked is 12 AM fine for him. He said yes and schedule the meeting at 12 AM, all happened over teams chat.

I decided to take his own words against him, so I scheduled the meeting for 12 AM his time, which was 10 AM the next day for me, thinking, “If you expect me to be available at midnight, why not you?” That was the last time he expected me to be available post mid night.