I understand that the law “allows” for this sort of scheming. But I still think that it points out the “bad” side of people. The law is in place with the very best of intentions: to protect workers from being overworked. It was never intended to be applied in the manner in question. Sadly, there are people who scour the rules for loopholes, and then twist them to their own advantage, without regard to the unfair hurt it causes on other people. The whole thing was obviously planned in advance, as he ASKED for the breaks, and then kept a log of them. He knew he was legally due overtime, and never asked for it so that he could build it up and demand it later - obviously if the owners learned he would be due overtime, they would have stopped allowing the breaks. He clearly didn’t want them to learn.

The owners of this restaurant had even provided this a-hole a place to stay for free while he was relocating.

Interestingly, there is a reverse scheme where employers classify employees as “managers” just to avoid having to pay overtime, when in reality they aren’t managers at all. There seems to be no limit to how much people are willing to screw each other for a buck. This is not the “fault” of the law - rather, it is the reason it is so difficult to write laws.