Employment Law and wages - supervisor earning less than staff?

Question

Hello...

I am curious as to whether it is legal for a member of staff under a supervisor to earn more than the supervisor that supervises them!?

Does anyone know if this is a situation that often exists and more importantly if such a situation is legal or illegal?

Any comments would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Jamie.

Hello...

This question relates to Scottish Law...

I am curious as to whether it is legal for a member of staff under a supervisor to earn more than the supervisor that supervises them!?

Does anyone know if this is a situation that often exists and more importantly if such a situation is legal or illegal?

Any comments would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Jamie.

Answer 1

It is uncommon, but certainly not illegal. Think about sports leagues. Many times the players make more than the coach.

Answer 2

It's totally legal and it happens a lot. Two circumstances where it's pretty common:

-Supervisor is a salaried employee (straight-time, same paycheck every week regardless of hours) and employee is a non-salaried/hourly employee. Often you'll find that the supervisor's pay divided by 40 hours is less than the hourly employees are making

-Supervisor has been with the company for a long time but the employee is new; supervisor has gotten regular raises but that doesn't make up for a surge in industry wages. You see this a lot in big companies. If their HR policy is set so that the maximum raise is (for example) 6% annually but then there's a big boom in that industry, a new employee just walking in the door may have a bigger paycheck. The supervisor might actually need to have his/her job classification reassigned in order to come up to a salary level that's more in line with the industry.

An example of raise caps... I started my current job 6 months ago. A friend also works for the company; he's been there for 6 years. He started when he was very young and didn't have a lot of experience; he got regular raises at the company maximum level. He's also a level higher than me in seniority (not my boss but the boss of another team). I make about $22k more than he does. Our company is actually assigning him to a new job category this year and giving him a big bonus to make up the difference; he's one of the key employees and makes about the least on the team, but it will take 3 years of job category changes to get him up into the salary range he'd be at, if he was just walking in the door now.

Answer 3

In the US, if it's a private employer and you don't have a union job, I think it's a question of company policy. If union or employment contracts are involved, then they determine the 'legality'.

It's probably not good policy for the subordinate to make more than the immediate supervision, but it happens!.

Answer 4

Not in state government here. But where are you?
I have been assigned to cover for a manager on his vacation but only because I had seniority. I had 2 tech spec in our staff (++$$). They declined to do all the paper work even though it included OT.

Answer 5

Sure is. Salesperson make more than their supervisors so do patrol ( Police) Officers who are willing to put in extra time. Making it illegal would kill incentive in many professions

Answer 6

When I was with BT, my boss earned more than me on paper.

However, when you accounted for the fact that my contract was for 37.5 hours a week, and his was basically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, his hourly rate was less than mine. Not unsurprisingly, promotion was not one of my priorities ...

Answer 7

This sounds illegal, if it is a permanent position you have. Have you tried negotiating for a fairer wage?

What sort of company is it and how long have you been there?

It may also depend on your respective job descriptions. Who does more? How much responsibility do you have? etc., etc.

Answer 8

I am supervisor to a guy who earns more than me. So it does happen, I don't think it is illegal.