Gilly
04-22-2004, 10:43 AM
Realistically, my husband has been underpaid for his job since he started. He doesn't have a degree, though, so the college won't pay him as much as the other people, even though he does the jobs of 3 men. When his boss (who is in the reserves) got called away to stand post in Guantanamo Bay last December, Nick got all of his duties, plus his own. Last summer, a guy was fired, and rather than hire someone in, they shifted his work to Nick. In an office where the other technicians are making 45k to start, and going up from there, we are making 30k, after 3 small 3% raises.
He's a tech, he does code for mediated classrooms, so that a professor can stand in 1 spot, and from a single touch screen, he can control everything in the room. My husband first builds the rooms, putting in the high tech eq (each room costs around 12k to upgrade), then after it's all in, he has to wire the entire room, and then after that, he has to do the coding to make it all work.
3 years ago, 3 different people would come in to do specific parts.
His boss saved the college 60k by going to Guantanamo Bay, because even though they are required by law to hold a position for him for a year, they don't have to pay him.
The guy who was fired saved the campus about 50k, give or take, depending on his over time.
Still, Nick was only making his normal standard amount. Now, the amount works for us, don't get me wrong, because we do get by. It's tight at times, sure, and we pretty much live pay check to pay check, but still, it could be ALOT worse.
Back in early January, his higher up boss (his boss's boss, basically) asked him what he was making per hour, and told Nick "We'll have to do something about that". That was the last we heard until March, when it was brought up again.
In March, they had problems getting it approved, and it looked like we -might- get a whole $.25 raise/hour. Not great, but hey, it's a quarter more than before, right?
Around the end of March, rumors started circulating that the raise would be retro active from when it was first subbmitted to the Human Resources dept. We figured, great, and extra hundred or two on a paycheck!
In early April, we found out that he had to qualify for it, by quantifying his job. 2 other people got raises, and had to do the same. Nick's job description filled 1 whole page, front and back. The other two got in 2 paragraphs.
Word came again last week that we were finally approved for it. Yay! Then, we got further word that he's getting a 9% raise, which came out just over a $1/hour. Yay!
Now, down side is that when his boss does come back, we forfeit the raise, since it's technically payment for a job he shouldn't be doing. Further down side is that whether his boss is back by June 30th or not, we have to go through the whole thing again, and reapply for it. As of the last time we heard word from his boss, he was going to be in Guantanamo Bay until December of this year, and then they are looking at shipping his squad over to relieve people in Iraq. He's looking at another full year, or longer, of being away.
So, today we got our normal paycheck, including the raise, PLUS all the retroactive for 3 and a half months. Our normal paycheck covers a 2 week period, and we get (after taxes) around $860. Today's check was $1,350. I'm muay excited!
Yay!
Ok, yeah, that must have been a boring read for you guys, but I'm excited, none the less. Thank you for bearing with my novel about the pay raise, for those who are still reading. ;)
I could have just said, hey, we got a raise! That would have done it, but no, I'm in motormouth mode. :D
He's a tech, he does code for mediated classrooms, so that a professor can stand in 1 spot, and from a single touch screen, he can control everything in the room. My husband first builds the rooms, putting in the high tech eq (each room costs around 12k to upgrade), then after it's all in, he has to wire the entire room, and then after that, he has to do the coding to make it all work.
3 years ago, 3 different people would come in to do specific parts.
His boss saved the college 60k by going to Guantanamo Bay, because even though they are required by law to hold a position for him for a year, they don't have to pay him.
The guy who was fired saved the campus about 50k, give or take, depending on his over time.
Still, Nick was only making his normal standard amount. Now, the amount works for us, don't get me wrong, because we do get by. It's tight at times, sure, and we pretty much live pay check to pay check, but still, it could be ALOT worse.
Back in early January, his higher up boss (his boss's boss, basically) asked him what he was making per hour, and told Nick "We'll have to do something about that". That was the last we heard until March, when it was brought up again.
In March, they had problems getting it approved, and it looked like we -might- get a whole $.25 raise/hour. Not great, but hey, it's a quarter more than before, right?
Around the end of March, rumors started circulating that the raise would be retro active from when it was first subbmitted to the Human Resources dept. We figured, great, and extra hundred or two on a paycheck!
In early April, we found out that he had to qualify for it, by quantifying his job. 2 other people got raises, and had to do the same. Nick's job description filled 1 whole page, front and back. The other two got in 2 paragraphs.
Word came again last week that we were finally approved for it. Yay! Then, we got further word that he's getting a 9% raise, which came out just over a $1/hour. Yay!
Now, down side is that when his boss does come back, we forfeit the raise, since it's technically payment for a job he shouldn't be doing. Further down side is that whether his boss is back by June 30th or not, we have to go through the whole thing again, and reapply for it. As of the last time we heard word from his boss, he was going to be in Guantanamo Bay until December of this year, and then they are looking at shipping his squad over to relieve people in Iraq. He's looking at another full year, or longer, of being away.
So, today we got our normal paycheck, including the raise, PLUS all the retroactive for 3 and a half months. Our normal paycheck covers a 2 week period, and we get (after taxes) around $860. Today's check was $1,350. I'm muay excited!
Yay!
Ok, yeah, that must have been a boring read for you guys, but I'm excited, none the less. Thank you for bearing with my novel about the pay raise, for those who are still reading. ;)
I could have just said, hey, we got a raise! That would have done it, but no, I'm in motormouth mode. :D