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    That would actually be perfectly reasonable if I was working only these hours my employer is paying me. But more often than not, I work easily work 60h/w without getting payed back the extra time and effort I put. So, according to them, they do not own me a dime for any extra hour of work I put for them, but I own them all the compensation I get for working in a grant panel.
    – PsySp
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 8:15
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    @PsySp: …and you might have leverage there; Google "work to rule". Maybe you could apologize for misunderstanding the amount of flexibility allowed and expected in your employment with the university, and say that in the future you will work on tracking your time more accurately to ensure that you'll neither spend any paid work time on personal activities (like this grant committee) nor accidentally work more than your agreed upon hours per week. Having a lawyer or a union rep with you might be a good idea — they'll know both what to say and how to say it without sounding whiny or petulant.
    – Ilmari Karonen
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 9:20
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    @IlmariKaronen Knowing the Dutch system PsySp is probably on a temporary contract. What are the chances of getting that contract extended after such an action? After you worked like that for a while what will your publication record look like? So that leverage is pretty limited. If I were a department head in such a conversation I would strongly recommend you against such actions because I don't want you to hurt yourself, but if you insist I would not care one way or another. So that is how much leverage you have.
    – Maarten Buis
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 9:34
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    Whenever you make a statement like that, you need to consider what you are going to do if the department head calls your bluff. Is the department head really going to notice if you don't spent the extra time on finishing paper xyz? Probably only when it is time to decide whether to continue to employ you...
    – Maarten Buis
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 11:47
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    @PsySp As an employer, they don't owe you extra hours they haven't formally asked you to perform. Your contract must be clear about this. If you, in the other hand, volunteered to give your employer roughly 50% more in number of hours from your time, remember that it's a personal choice. For you, it is extra labour that is providing some experience at best, detrimental to your life balance at worse. As for your employer, the truth is, most likely, they don't even care.
    – Theo
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 18:20