‘Who dreams this crap up?’: Kevin O'Leary slams new rule that allows employees to ignore their bosses after hours

Fuck you, pay me.

He's also ignoring the fact that if your job's responsibilities are mission-critical, chances are you have a contract which stipulates situations in which you can be contacted after hours. It's about Joe Schmoe IT guy being called in at 7pm while he's having dinner with his family and being told to come to work because Greg the assistant to the Sales VP forgot his password again. Greg can fuck right off until tomorrow morning.

The server going down at 2am is mission-critical and the guy in charge of it will definitely be answering that call to fix it.
- Right, but he’s placing a subtle idea on people that wage theft isn’t a thing, overtime shouldn’t be a thing, and we shouldn’t have regulation for that. There’s a reason SREs get paid so much money, and it’s because it’s in their contract that they have to be the ones to rotate shifts and be up at 2am during an upgrade or otherwise, and he’s just mad he can’t pay everyone less and make more money
- At my job we're expected to at least try to be available if needed after hours which in my 3 years here has happened once and it took about 30 minute and I waited until my son went to bed for the night.
  
  In return we get to leave for doctors appointments, picking up kids, errands etc without having to use PTO or make up the time. It's a pretty sweet deal for the developers and no one abuses it to much.
  
  At my old job they tried to get us to work after hours pretty frequently for a fraction of what our hourly rate was, we were salaried but when you broke it down you'd be getting like $20 an hour instead of $50. Ridiculous and almost no one did it.
The only correct answer. Pay for that availability if needed around the clock.
You beat me to it 😂
but that's why we made you salary with low wages!

If employees start ignoring their boss’s calls, texts, and emails outside of work hours, an after-hours emergency might have to wait until the next business day, which O’Leary finds unacceptable.

Did this fucking fascist consider hiring more staff and going 24/7? How is it the problem of salaried workers that their boss is too fucking cheap to hire enough people to get the level of support that he wants?

If your service needs to operate 24/7, then it needs to be staffed 24/7. If it doesn’t need to operate 24/7, then staff will resolve the issue during normal work hours. Most businesses have IT teams stagger their start time so that someone comes in early and can deal with issues that may have risen the night before and prior to other employees arriving.
I made this a few years ago, about 6 months before walking out on a job I'd had for 11 years.

Fuck all these sociopaths. Right in the ear. With a rusty spoon.
And all these laws have carveouts for emergencies. Although I have a feeling Mr O'Leary would probably count having to do a presentation on Monday morning for some guy he met golfing over the weekend an emergency.
Why would he do that when he could just work the to the bone, then fire them and hire more people?

“Who dreams this crap up?”

Working class people who make .5% what you do and don’t want to eat, sleep, and breathe work, you fucking fascist turd goblin.

EDIT: We have been informed by our team that our numbers above were off slightly. We apologize for the error and pledge to quintuple-check our math going forward.

Kevin O'Leary's annual income is reported at $40+ million. The average salary in the US is About $60k. The number you're looking for is 0.15%.
- Sounds like he should get domed along with everyone like him (and everyone that supports/bootlicks him).
.00000000.....00001% of you do *
The insane thing is you are probably missing a few 0's in there for the percentage. Maybe .05% or .005% depending on the company.
.5% is generous. Kevin is a billionaire. If workers made .5% of even a single billion dollars, that's 5 million dollars.
but if you don't work while you eat and sleep how am i supposed to sit on my ass and complain about you all day

says the guy who definitely blows up his employee's phones after hours

…and is irritated when he gets after hours calls.
- Oh, you just know that dickbag has an answering service, still. My asshole of a father did until he retired earlier this year.
- Yeah he is one of those that won't respond when people try to work out if issue is resolved

When asked whether he ever encounters employees who silence their phones outside of work, O’Leary didn’t hesitate with his response: “The next moment is — I just fire them.”

TBH they're better off.

Hm, unemployment collection and/or EEOC action for constructive dismissal, cool. My disability is "unable to work when off the clock".
- Canada has worker protections, too, so that would get expensive if he tried it at home.
Fucking gross.

Unionize, folks. Solidarity forever!

"Billionaire who benefits financially from harassing his employees after hours instead of staffing those hours mad at concept that you shouldn't do that."

Repost with that as the title.

I don't know who Kevin O'Leary, but I can tell I don't like him.

There's a lot of talk these days about people being cancelled. This guy seems like the sort of person that would be an excellent candidate for it. I believe we, as a society, ought to collectively express our disgust at this kind of behavior.

So how is it done? How do we figuratively light the signal fires of Gondor and call forth the hosts to confront this evil?

Guillotine?
- If Kev and his cronies keep pushing their neofeudalist garbage, that might just be the solution we'll see.
Rich asshole with a reality TV show? Probably just as likely that we elect him president, wait for him to commit treason and more felonies than anyone can reasonably keep track of, and then fail to hold him meaningfully accountable for any of it.
- Better that people do not know this but I am pretty sure he is Canadian. No Presidential risk.
We could less-figuratively use O'Leary as the signal fires of Gondor.
Everyone should send these shitty people drawings of poop. Good ones, bad ones. Whatever your drawing level..... draw a poop, lable it with "poop" if youre not sure theyll get it and send it. That should get across that we collectively think they are shit.

These types of assholes usually have po box for their businesses at the very least. On their website they typically have some sort of mailing address under "contact us."

If we can get inundated with junk mail everyday from shitty businesses advertising I think we can return the favor on this one.

Edit - put the return address from the north pole
- Even better if you send it in their own, pre-paid postage envelopes they sent to you for whatever bullshit reason.
- This could work.
  
  #we're not taking your crap anymore
- You realize you can send actual shit through the mail, yeah?
Boycott the companies funding them

he said in a clip he shared of a recent interview with Fox News

ahh yes, as broadcasted to the group who are consistently brainwashed to vote against their own best interests. mission accomplished

I know people who live around where his wife was driving the boat and got in an accident and the people in the other boat died.

They all think she took the fall for him and he was drinking and he was the one driving. They were both drinking let’s be real - heading home from dinner on one of the most exclusive cottage lakes in Canada gimme a break.

Their opinion is he should have been charged and guilty.

The wife got back to the dock and took a big drink if I recall correctly to “calm her nerves” - oldest trick in the book.

Anyway, this shithead says what?

As usual they get to live and their innocent victims pay the price.

You know what would be awesome? If Kevin O’Leary died in a house fire, trapped and begging for his life.

Is that harsh? I gave up caring years ago. These people have every possible resource at their disposal to not be absolute pieces of shit. But they just can’t stop doing shit that leaves millions of people dead, injured, or much more commonly, in a state of poverty or near poverty for their entire lives because these assholes never learned how to share.

So I’ll say it again: I hope Kevin O’Leary dies in some excruciatingly painful way. Bonus points if him being a jackass kicks it off and he has to suffer the consequences of his own actions.
- I didn't know who he is until this thread, but from the few articles I've since read about him, I absolutely hope he dies slowly from acid burns over 95% of his body.
Kevin O'Leary testifies he doesn't recall if wife drank before fatal boat crash

A couple hundred years ago, Kevin O'Leary would be whipping his slaves to death for objecting to being raped.

With the right vote he could be doing that in a few years too.
- That vote's coming in western Canada. So many short-sighted hillbillies rage-voting in some fatcat climate-change denying moron hell-bent on killing healthcare and personal autonomy under the banner of "woke==bad". All the Dodge RAM pilots are eating it up -- and not just to soak up the rye before heading out.

He's exactly the person you'd unfairly assume he is based on his face.

Isn't it weird how common that is though? There's like some kind of cosmic force shaping people to look like how they are. Probably fashion.

More context as to how much of a garbage human O’Leary is. https://www.avclub.com/shark-tanks-mr-wonderful-helped-kill-the-educational-1829339516

After reading that, I think calling O'Leary a garbage human is an insult to garbage everywhere.
- You can actually generate power with garbage... This guy is a net negative on humanity.

These corporate fucks should just die. No ifs, no buts, just fucking die like the scum they are.

Too humane
- Die, and then get called back on the job after hours

If he were my boss I'd ignore him during work hours too, tbh.

He's known as "Mr. Wonderful" because of how marbled and tender his cuts will be when he is harvested and eaten.

Headline from 100+ years ago:

'Who dreams up this balderdash?': Andrew Carnegie slams new idea pushed by labor unions that will force employers to give workers two days off at the end of every week

or maybe:

Republicans continue effort to erode US child labor rules despite teen deaths

Oh wait, no... That one was from last year https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/20/republican-child-labor-law-death

Frustrated by this news, Carnegie would later hire Pinkertons to kill his own workers.

That is what CMU calls it college team right? The fightin' pinks?

I'm sure this fat greedy fuck would be edible if we slow roasted him, basted with a nice strong chili sauce

Some people think that barbecue - the cooking method where a piece of meat is slowly smoked for hours, often with a flavorful rub or sauce - was invented to make human meat palatable.
- Long pig.
- These freaks are really bringing me around to the idea.

If he wants to have people on call after hours - how about paying them for that?

Kevin O’Leary is a cunt. Yeah, I said it.

Fuck Kevin O’Leary.

So you'll pay a livable wage plus overtime everytime you call me outside work yeah?

... and an on-call premium so you are always available
He doesn't get overpay himself for these hours, why should you? /s

Call his ass after hours constantly and see how he likes it.

Worst Canadian in the world, maybe top 5 worst human.

He makes me ashamed to be Canadian.
- I'd say Elon Musk too.

If the prick wants people on-call 24 hours a day then he needs to pony up the wages to match with accompanying extended holiday for downtime.

My general sense of this dude from Shark Tank is he's an asshole. After reading about him for 5 minutes, he's definitely an asshole.

I'm available for work after hours - 1 week a month, scheduled several months in advance.
I get about 1000€ extra for it, per month. And also 42 days of paid vacation per year, plus unlimited sick days.

That's what this rule would do - force employers to make it worth your while if they need you after hours, and force them to think about whether they really need that.

Fuck, I get about a 150€ for being on call for a week. I'm getting ripped off.
- You guys are getting paid for being on call?!
I want what you have, I'm getting screwed.

what if you have to get a hold of them at two in the morning

People sometimes accuse me of being cynical, and yet here I was giving this guy the benefit of the doubt, thinking his objection might be that we don't need such a rule because employees already had the right to not answer the phone by nature and tradition.

i think this is a good idea in 95% of cases. Some jobs obviously require being on call. In some cases, it's necessary to have meetings with people in +/- 8h timezones. there should be appropriate compensation naturally.

Some jobs obviously require being on call.

If you need 24/7 coverage, you also need to pay those people to wait around on call. But just buzzing people at odd hours and demanding Just-in-Time employment puts a disproportionate tax on their unpaid time.

Medical staff will often have these extremely long - 20 to 30 hour - shifts because they want to maintain continuous care on a patient. But they also get paid for being active for that time frame. They don't just teleport to the hospital when an ambulance arrives and teleport away again as soon as the patient is stable. Professional Fire Departments keep people on call in rotation so there's always someone available in the event of an emergency. The volunteer system yields much worse results, as people holding down households and second jobs can't drop everything on short notice to rush halfway across town with ease.

there should be appropriate compensation naturally.

But that will cost money. And paying more money means keeping fewer profits.

Fuckers like this make me regret my career in IT

Kevin, seriously, what actual value do you serve to the human race? What do you do that makes life better overall? I don’t mean new toys or new companies that produce more shit, what do you make for the average person that makes their life better? Nothing, is that answer. You had a chance way back, educational software could have been a human life changer.. but no, you couldn’t make money on it. So go fuck your self. Vafancullo

It’s time to hold idiots like this guy accountable.

The first time you watch Shark Tank, you might think this Kevin guy is a bit of an asshole. However, if you carefully study his history, his successes, and dig deep into what the man himself is like, you discover that he is, in fact, a piece of shit.

Up up with the workers

Yeah yeah!

Down down with the bosses

Boom boom!

It’s valid. I don’t check email unless I’m at work, fire me.

Two way street, right Kevin...? What an ass.

Oh that’s employees boss. We’re the majority actually. And if you stop us from organizing or voting we’re still the majority, just angrier.

There are a lot of jobs that require out of hours support, specifically those that aren't tied to business hours. In tech at least, many of the sites and services you use are built off the backs of software engineers that are paged at 5am because latency is a little higher than normal.

I don't raise this to say that this rule is bullshit, but to say that there are a lot of arguments that will be used to push people to work longer than their allotted hours. IMO this is absolutely required, but I would go further and say that any contact outside of working hours implies a working contract, and guarantees that the employee is paid for the disruption caused. That includes on-call too, which is often unpaid.

Labor laws in the US are, frankly, hilariously bad. You deserve unlimited sick pay, at least 25 days holiday (separate from sick leave), and the removal of at-will employment. What is described here is the bare minimum of what you should have.

There are a lot of jobs that require out of hours support, specifically those that aren’t tied to business hours. In tech at least, many of the sites and services you use are built off the backs of software engineers that are paged at 5am because latency is a little higher than normal.

There is a very easy solution to this dilemma: pay someone to stand ready at off-hours.
- My first job in the late 90s did just that - 1 hour pay for every 8 on call. 4 hours when you get a call (even if it took 5 minutes.)
- While true, there are some complications to this:
  
  Unsociable hours usually require more pay
  
  If you're already working 40 hours a week, focusing on stuff out of hours is going to be hard. I know this all too well!
  
  IMO, this is EXACTLY where outsourcing should be used. Either move someone from the US (or your home country) to where you need support, ensure you have a good triage system for issues that might come up, etc.
Hey guess what, some people have to work on weekends too. Seems like we were able to figure that one out no problem.
Those of us who admin critical systems know when we're responsible and know which folks call us regarding those systems. I'm not answering a call from a random manager but If the engineering chain calls, they don't abuse the privilege.

Not-slave owners?

That dude is a great illustration what Engels meant by comparing slavery to wage slavery.

🍽

JFC, as a business owner I 100% not expect my employees to be reachable after hours. Why do these idiots don’t understand the basic principle: happy employee is productive employee. Understanding life happens and work is ‘just’ work. Give and take equally, be reasonable about stuff - basic human empathy… I hold my own personal time in high regard, it would be insane not to hold other people’s personal time in high regard too.

Who the fuck would call their employee after hours? In none of the places I've ever worked, would the boss even think about calling me to do something when I'm not at work. Nobody would expect me to answer. You don't need a law about basic things like that.

See, you're just lucky. Many folks don't have good bosses, so a law like this is good.
- So You need a law for normal, decent behavior?
This law isn't catered to you personally, don't you think there are bosses or work places that call their employees after hours - it's pretty common. I don't mind, but I get mails and messages after hours and just answer them.

It does effect me without me knowing in some ways, but I personally feel it's more important to help someone, that also might be stressed and decide to contact me, for some help or questions.

If the person or boss isn't an asshole I don't mind, but not everyone has that luxury, of having a boss that cares. Often they don't want to contact you after hours.
- Why I do respond sometimes out of my own convenience I'm careful to schedule the message for work hours so it's clear to people when they can expect a response.
- If it was worth stressing about, it was worth discussing with me when I was on the clock. The entire premise of a job is that I work in direct exchange for money. No money? No work. Pay me or wait until next shift.
Couple of weeks back I was on holiday in Corfu. The number work has for me - and by extension the people who I work with - is my personal phone number, for which the company pays me a small stipend every month.

I was genuinely expecting a couple of calls because that’s just how it rolls, but nope. Got nothing. It was lovely.
But see this is america where workers have paltry few rights. So we do need laws about basic shit like this. In the IT field on-call and after hours work is just expected, you're expected to answrr calls and emails etc. It's awful. So it'd be nice if there laws against it.
So you've never worked in low-level management for say, Amazon, or a non-profit like the American Red Cross. Or whatever. Cool!

But Kevin O'Leary is a very honerable man /s

SLAM! So effective. I’m thankful it’s utterly useless in this case though.

Didn’t he kill someone with his boat?

Is this the one that mentions his Swedish virgin made underwear every time someone pitches an underwear brand on one of pretty those shows that usually end up being 'roast my business'?