# My employer decided some people were underpaid **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 2, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993 "2003-04-02T16:59:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/1 "2003-04-02T16:59:17Z")
Yesterday there was an H.R. person in the director’s office. The door was closed. The director went into the managers’ offices and spoke to them with the door closed. There was speculation about a certain individual who makes a habit of “being sick” on Mondays or Fridays (maybe she really _is_ sick, but she’s “sick” a lot) was going to be called on the carpet. A bit later the director came to my box and said, “Do you have a minute?” We went into the manager’s office. I was told that the company decided that some people in the department were being underpaid. I was being informed that my salary was being increased over $1,700 per year effective yesterday. 🙂 When I went into the short closed-door meeting, a couple of co-workers started speculating immediately: “Oh, _no!_ Not [Johnny L.A.]! What are we going to do?” But when I went back to my box and they heard typing, they decided that something not-bad had happened. Being April Fool’s Day, however, I did take the opportunity to tell my direct-report who is paranoid about losing his situation that there are going to be lay-offs. “_April Fool’s!_” (I had to offer my appy polly loggies to him though, since I did rattle him a bit. 😃 ) The cool thing about the salary rise is that it does not effect my annual salary rise or my bone-us (sorry, “bonus”) that is determined this month. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/2 "2003-04-02T17:06:56Z")
Congrats, man! Is this the same company that was supposed to lay you off a long time ago? What a weird bunch! I got a pay rise too, this month. Cool beans. You never know how much it is until you get it with our complex tax system, but I was pleased to find out it means I’m earning over 300 Euros a month more, after taxes. Not too shabby! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/3 "2003-04-02T17:39:29Z")
Geez, **Coldie** … Not only to you Yurpians get more vacation than we do, you get bigger raises as well! (On a side-note, I’m hoping to get the bike out of the shop today.) ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/4 "2003-04-02T17:46:44Z")
Picking mine up from it’s hybernation cave this Saturday! Then, it’ll go in for some pre-season maintenance. Mainly, I hope to resolve the start problems that little b\*tch has. :mad: I already know I’ll be pushing for half an hour to get it started Saturday. 🙂 And we may get bigger raises, but we still make less after taxes! ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/5 "2003-04-02T17:50:30Z")
Could you have your HR person talk to my company’s HR person? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/6 "2003-04-02T22:16:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Could you have your HR person talk to my company’s HR person? You don’t know how little we get paid! 😃 (The way it works is that every couple of years they do a survey to find out what people make, then the following year they pay us the median salary – unless they had been _really_ underpaying people; then they try to come up to the bottom salary.) ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/7 "2003-04-02T22:22:27Z")
Heh. Johnny, that’s exactly how I convinced my boss that I was due for a substantial increase last June. Well, I didn’t actually conduct the survey, but I found some reports on the 'Net. Got just over $7000/yr outta the tightwad. Congratulations, more flying time for ya. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/8 "2003-04-02T22:27:05Z")
Heh. After taxes, the extra pay amounts to about 0.5 hours in the Schweizer per _month_. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/9 "2003-04-02T22:32:40Z")
Wow - It looks like good news all around this month. I should be getting an extra $125 after taxes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/10 "2003-04-03T02:31:16Z")
So, your’e _sure_ it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/11 "2003-04-03T02:55:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UncleBeer \* > \*\*Heh. Johnny, that’s exactly how I convinced my boss that I was due for a substantial increase last June. Well, I didn’t actually conduct the survey, but I found some reports on the 'Net. Got just over $7000/yr outta the tightwad. > \*\* Yep. Me, too. I tell ya, salary surveys were the best thing ever invented for us underpaid types. Got 'em to pay ~90% of the median salary for my position, even though I only have one year in it. AND a commitment to review my bonus structure next year with an eye toward bringing that closer to norm. So the only thing left is to decide whether it’s ethical to lie on the high side when the surveyers come a-callin’, hoping to drive that median up. 😉 Good on ya, **Johnny**! With a little luck, I’ll be joining you in the skies soon – maybe a dopeflier fest at a midwest airport that’s unaccessible by highway? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/12 "2003-04-03T13:44:33Z")
> [@](#): > > maybe a dopeflier fest at a midwest airport that’s unaccessible by highway? Hm, let’s see… A Schweizer 300CD cruises at about 80 knots. $190 per hour. Distance to the Midwest is… :eek: How are the lessons coming? **Manduck** : That’s what _I_ asked! But the paper is official. Ya know… Reading everyone else’s posts made me realize that they all got larger raises than I did! (Well, there’s still the merit raises and bonus coming up.) ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-employer-decided-some-people-were-underpaid/165993/13 "2003-04-03T13:48:51Z")
If it makes you feel any better, my current Computer Operator job is ceilinged at $11 an hour. I am at $11 an hour. No bonuses, no paid days off. No raises either. _sigh_