Hey y’all, I’m a warehouse worker in Illinois, when I was hired on I was promised $17.50 an hour. I got access to the employee self service recently to find out these past 4 months I’ve been getting paid $17. Now I don’t have any actual on paper proof of this but I remember very clearly thinking , “$17.50, hey that’s just a dollar less than my girlfriend who’s already in the field, neat!” And I’m a little miffed about this discrepancy, because I know it probably happened because my department manager is scatter brained.
I don’t need any legal advice or rallying cries here. I just wanna know cause I already sent him an email saying I found this, this isn’t what I was told, can I come over to your building later and talk about this? How should I broach this? Obviously I want to start with friendly energy but stay stern that this is not the rate I was told I would be getting. Thoughts?
At this point you are beyond doing anything about it. Now you should be focused on at least $18.
“Over the past 6 months I have met or exceeded expectations and I would like to discuss a pay increase to $18.50. I feel I have earned it and that with this salary increase I would be in a better position to contribute even more to the company.”
Ask for $18.50 and you have a better chance of getting $18.
What do you mean you “don’t have any actual on paper proof”? I’m not too familiar with American law and such but don’t you have a contract that states what your starting salary should be? A promise that’s not put into writing and signed by your boss probably isn’t worth anything.
To get a bit closer to your question: be friendly, ask if there has been a mistake or if you might have misunderstood the agreement. Only imply they’re doing this on purpose if you’re willing to leave the company if things go wrong.
Yeah, they should have an offer of employment I’d think? Guess it depends on the job though as I haven’t always had that, but you bet I’d be checking that first paystub so it’s weird OP went so long without noticing.
Yeah you’re right I should have noticed sooner, I just for some reason never thought to check the actual rate box on my stubs, just the total, live and learn
Well they owe you $0.50/hr for every hour worked in the last 4 months. Thats a them mistake, not a you mistake, so dont feel bad.
Politely mention it to your boss or payroll. Dont assign blame, just tell them the issue. If the buisness is above board, they will apologize profusely and either offer to cut you a check today or by your next payday. If they are not above board, they will either fight you or bitch and moan before paying you. If that’s the case, look for a new job. They will only do worse things to you in the future.
Not sure why you got downvoted.
If there’s an agreed upon rate, all the hours OP worked are payable at that rate.
Because OP implied that the contract said 17$ and he had just not noticed (because he was promised 17.50$ in the interview). In that case, it is false that he has a right to the reamining 50ct per hour.
Ah, I missed that bit. Thank you.
OP should take the lesson to always read something before they sign their name to it.
Most jobs I have had, have not had employment contracts.
Whenever having a tough conversation, be prepared to either accept whatever they offer or find a new job. Welcome to America, it is what it is.
You probably signed a contract initially stating the starting rate. You can ask for this. You may have been told the wrong starting salary, you may have been given the bait and switch. It is probably too late to change the past, regardless. You can ask for a raise of $0.50 starting current (or more likely next) pay period. They can say “it’s not the time of year we give raises” and “your would not have been told that, it isn’t our standard” etc. You can look for what their current starting rate is for the job you are currently doing and apply to the same job within the company, when asked why you are doing this you can point out you were denied market value raise.
If you already sent an email trying to talk about it, and you are trying to be natural about it, then I think that anything else might be overthinking, and possibly counter-productive.
Definitely do it in person and take the approach of “I was offered $17.50 initially and I have show I am reliable/hardworking over the last 4 months, and I would like to earn $X now” rather than “it’s not fair I was told this rate but got paid less”. Specific examples to show your value are helpful, use a friendly but firm approach, but recognize usually employers have complete discretion in wages unless you are part of union or have a contract so there’s a chance they will say no.
Another option is to use those 4 months of experience to get a new warehouse job with better pay. People tend to earn more job hopping than waiting for raises.
Better to do this in person.
Yeah that was the plan, I had initially needed advice for an in person meeting though cause since I’m in a different building, I rarely get to interact with my boss
" I rarely get to interact with my boss"
Happy to put a positive spin on that for you if you’d like 😅
Oh trust me it’s super nice cause I can hide from management but it’s annoying when a. I need to take care of work documentation shit or b. They straight up go home early and forget to tell us
