NEED HELP! Boss is trying to screw me over.

So I just got a supervisor position at the company I work for.

The position is salary, but they want to make my salary retroactive for this month... AND I'VE ALREADY WORKED OVER 90HRS THIS WEEK!

Can anyone with any knowledge of the legality of this give me a hand.

i dont know anything about the legality of it, but it sounds like you should get a different job. Any company that makes you work 90 hours in a single week isnt worth working for.

Well we work around the retail industry, and right now, we are in transition from growing so we are hiring new people. plus the workload of my specific job had increased to %75 and I'm the only one that knows how to do it because of My technical background.

I work at the same place Roxy, Kitten, and MisterSatan do... We the SG work crew.

A.K.A Data Entry Whores

From what I know of the corporate workplace, you need to get them to agree to issue you your overtime before they retro your "promotion pay". If they are promoting you, you should have a leg to stand on to negotiate. If you are punching in, and logged as an hourly employee, I don't believe they can legally stiff you for the time you put in.

Stand your ground on that one if you can. How valuable are you to the company? Who else would be able to come in and take the job they are offering you? If you see that you have some leverage here use it. Figure out how much money they are asking you to walk away from compared to what you'll get in the new job. If you quantify the loss, maybe you can negotiate something else if they try to draw a line on the retroactive salary thing. BE STRONG! They need you.

[Edited on Nov 08, 2003 by AdamElectric]

Murph,

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but we talked about this when you came on board. There's been some pushback in retail and, with a worsened economic outlook, meeting the numbers is not feasible without some of our team going the extra mile. Our consultants' research indicates the compensation package offered here is in the ballpark for candidates with your background and experience, Murph, but if you feel you must move on then I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

cc: Human Resources

Sincerely,
Your Boss

(My advice would be to vote with your feet, man. If they're already trying to cheat you, they'll do it again. Get out.)

That's the problem is it's not the company, it's my manager. He's the one with the stick up his ass. The owner fuckin loves me and got me drunk recently. Even though I was going back to work that night.

Apparently I have a meeting about it on tuesday, I'm going to bring up a lot of things everyone said so far... I am the only one who can do this job.

Not to mention the job function I do, which is entering information for Best Buy's Weekly Ad Site. Is the biggest account in the company, My work pays for most of the companies wages.

i called the labor board a few years back with my job, salary has to be agreed on by both parties to be legal, but call the labor board to make sure, get a drink and a snack first when they put you on hold they aint fuckin around

Being the only person that can do certain parts of the job gives you some leverage (especially if it involves a large account like you mentioned), but be careful, you don't want to do anything that will bite you in the ass later.

If you feel you are owed this money fight for it. Good luck!

I hope things work out for you, and I certainly how it feels to be in the situation you're in. However. No matter what function you perform, or how usefull you are to your company, no one is really irreplaceable, so never go into a meeting with the attitude of "you can't afford to fire me because..." as ultimately, they'll pick up on it and do it anyway, even if it leaves them short staffed or in a predicament for a while. This is from someone who's both been on the receiving end of this situation and in a management position where I've had to let people go in similar circumstances, although that is never easy to do, especially when you know them socially.
I hope the meeting goes well. Go in there with definite goals and things to say and remember, Never be afraid to negotiate, but never negotiate out of fear.
Spike

[Edited on Nov 08, 2003 by Spike]

Yeah I'm going to make sure to bring up examples of Logic and hard facts on paper, but at the same time I'm going to bring up value not Irreplacibility, That is usually not a good move.

I'm sure it's will show if nothing else that I'm not going to lay down, and that's the kind of personality they want.

If nothing else, if they DO retroact, I'm going to make them back pay for benefeits they should owe me to the retroact period. They at least have to give me that in a logical sense

Damn the man. Keep your pimp hand strong and burn his shit down when you get the chance.

-wiggle-it-out yo!

If there is one thing I have learned in this life is that you should never consider yourself to be indespensible. If they could teach you how to do something they can teach someone else to do the same exact job. Your walking will be but a brief speedbump for them. A temporary inconvenience at the very worst. You may like to think that the entire company will collapse in your absence but the fact of the matter is that it will not. You are but a cog in the wheel and not the lynch pin.

Is this brutally honest? Yep. Is this the truth? You better fuckin' believe it.

oh i understand, i know i'm replaceable, They would be hurt if I did. but I know they could

But I would NEVER Threaten walking, that's just stupid in todays market. I'm just trying to get paid for honest time I put in NOT KNOWING i would not get paid for it. All of my old supervisors are backing me up on this too.

Well just have to see how it goes, it would be nice if I had a big fat law to say "HERE HERE LOOKAT THIS" But If I don't and I don't get paid I'll survive.

Btw the amount of money I'm talking about her is about $1,200 that I would be out.

I'm not from America, but i can tell you that what your company is proposing would violate Canadian Employment law without a doubt.

There is no way you should have to cough up money you have previously earned because they have decided to promote you.

I'm with the others in thinking that any company who would even suggest this proposal will screw you down the road. I assume that once you are a supervisor you will no longer be eligible for overtime? I suspect that the expectation will be to put in many long hours - could this be the reason for the promotion ( to pay you less on a weekly basis?). You may want to explore the expectations as to the hours you will put in - you may be worse off in the long run.

Hope it all works out.

This is easier than it seems.
1. Your agreement with the company covers the terms of your employment until such time as you either (a) mutually agree to a change or (b) you or the company elects to excercise its rights since your work is "at will"
2. You worked the previous period in question under specific terms of employment; in this case an hourly wage for a specific job description and duties. The company owes you that money - under those terms, no matter what you do - stay or resign.
3. You and the company can agree to make any employment change retroactive, but you are not obligated to do so. If the company seeks to make changes retroactive, you hold all of the bargaining chips; they owe you the money, and they want to promote you. Work something out that is beneficial to you - demonstrate your comittment to the company by accepting the new position, but do not wave off your hard earned salary. You may elect to negotiate a portion of it, you may elect to seek better benefits in exchange for waiving off the amount due, or you may negotiate additonal PAID days off in exchange for waiving the amount.
Be creative - you are in the driver's seat

Is it a good enough raise in your new position? If so I would take the short term loss for the increase in money you will get later on.

My company for some reason makes my(and everyone elses) yearly raise almost one week later then the year before. I make a point to tell them this but nothing ever seems to happen about it. It makes me mad but I make good money and am not about to through my job away for a few dollars. I guess if I felt they were doing this to just me I might take it further but they do it to all of us(even the three supervisors above me).

Accept the promotion. Don't accept it retroactively. Without getting into a lot of not very intersting labor law issues, thats really what it comes down to. Thye want you to be a "team player" because it saves them some bucks. Point out politely that you already are which is why they promoted you.

You have the legal right to be compensated at the rate you agreed to to work at. You may waive that as part of the negotiations over your new terms and position, but they cant make you. They can however decline to promote you, or in some scenarios fire you, but they cant force you to waive earned wages. It seems like they won't do that because your position is stronger. In the end if youre a good employee and they need you theyre not going to hold your feet to the flame over something like this, your manager is just being cheap.

"Yeahhhhh I'm gonna have to ask you to come in on Sunday, too. We lost a few people this week, and we kind of, uhmmm, have to play catch-up...."