I think he just read the Payout requirements wrong thinking they had to be at or below a certain Level, Instead of at or above. I can understand how this could happen if you are new to Mining as in most pools you are pretty much on your own.  even at the Bitcointalk forum a lot of folks explain stuff in programing terms which not everyone gets so it leads to a lot of confusion. and sometimes when you read & read you don't always understand and get it backwards.

Not everyone understands when they start that everyone including themselves & the pool operators are all trying to make a profit, and if payout are done in to small an increment it takes out the profit.