A manager required employees to pay $5 via Venmo for any lateness to Zoom meetings, even by seconds. The manager enforced the rule by posting his Venmo handle in meeting chats and publicly calling out employees who did not pay. The practice created a coercive atmosphere and operated like a penalty system rather than a lighthearted ritual. Demanding personal payments from employees raises legal concerns about unlawful deductions, wage issues, and abuse of managerial authority. Affected employees can pursue remedies through HR, labor agencies, or legal counsel.
I remember the morning it all started. I joined a Zoom meeting two minutes late, coffee in hand, and muttered a quick apology as I clicked in. To my surprise, my boss immediately dropped his Venmo handle into the chat and told me to send him five dollars. I laughed at first, assuming he was joking, but later that day he followed up asking if I had sent the money.
As it turned out, this wasn't a one-time stunt. It was part of a pattern. Every time someone showed up late, even by mere seconds, they were expected to send five dollars to the boss. If they didn't pay right away, he would call them out publicly in the Zoom chat or in Slack afterward. What started as a supposed lighthearted way of holding people accountable quickly turned into something that felt coercive and unfair.
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