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Antiwork

Startups and Non-Profits aren’t any better.

Brief background, I'm moving to a new city to pursue more school in September. My current apartment lease ends June 1st, at which point I'm going to move back in with family in a different city for the interim to get a chance to see them before leaving again and save some money. My current job is grant funded and thus has funding limitations, and in the employment contract specifies three crucial things: that the term of employment ends after July 1st That I will work “approximately 40 hours per week” That “the total number of hours per week will not exceed 750” due to limitations of the grant funding the employment. When I informed my boss that my lease ends June first, and that I will have to leave at that point, I received no sympathy and was told that 'leaving early' was disrespectful. When I suggested closing out…


Brief background, I'm moving to a new city to pursue more school in September. My current apartment lease ends June 1st, at which point I'm going to move back in with family in a different city for the interim to get a chance to see them before leaving again and save some money.

My current job is grant funded and thus has funding limitations, and in the employment contract specifies three crucial things:

  1. that the term of employment ends after July 1st
  2. That I will work “approximately 40 hours per week”
  3. That “the total number of hours per week will not exceed 750” due to limitations of the grant funding the employment.

When I informed my boss that my lease ends June first, and that I will have to leave at that point, I received no sympathy and was told that 'leaving early' was disrespectful. When I suggested closing out the remaining hours working remotely I was denied, and told that I should couch surf or make the 850 mile round trip on a regular basis if it comes down to it. No. Absolutely not.

Mind you this is an at-will state, so disrespectful or not I can leave at any point without legal repercussion. That option is no fun though.

So I looked back at my contract and found the three points listed above. The July 1st end date is set, but the wording is such that its only the absolute limit of the agreement and doesn't mandate that any activity continue till that date, so the next place I looked was my time sheet which is an excel sheet that keeps track of hours for the my entire employment term. Based on the 'approximate' 40 hour weeks—which you bet are going to remain at exactly 40 hours—the 750 allotted hours that I am not to exceed will be depleted on:

May 30th

I win, so long as I play my cards close to my chest. (and no, this post wont give it away. My boss isn't even aware of reddit) So here's your reminder that it's not just big corps that will try to shaft you. Startups are just as quick to refuse to be flexible, no matter how much you do for them.

Edit: for clarity, the lease end/ move date we’re not addressed upfront because things were still up in the air. It was entirely possible,and rather likely that I’d be staying in this city for much longer when I started.

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