employment: My boss went back on his word on giving us raises.?

Question

One of our co-workers quit 3 months ago, and her job duties were distributed among 3 of us, so we wouldn't have to hire another person. Our boss told us that he will RE ASSESS the situation after 3 months and mubled something about raises. So all 3 of us thought we were getting raises after 3 months by doing a good job and performing additional duties. One of us brought up to his attention that 3 months are almost up and if he is goign to be including raises in the next payroll.
Well the boss FLIPPED OUT when he heard this, he was being very defensive and the comment made him angry. He proceeded to MEMOing us by saying "there has been a big confusion and mistake" "There is no raises coming right now or in the near future." "so please if there was confusion I am sorry but we can't do any raises".

He WENT BACK on his word!!!!! what can we do to bring this issue to his attention? What should we say?

What ELSE could he mean by "reassessment" .
Definition:
The process of re-determining

Answer 1

I am so sorry for your situation, but like many have mentioned, he never guaranteed you guys a raise.

That does not excuse him from being a real jebrony though. Think about it this way: This guy is your boss and you work for this man, and you represent the company. Is this the kind of company you are proud of representing? It seems you're giving your time and effort for little reward. Taking advantage of, I believe it is, he is totally exploiting you.

While you may not have a court case against him, you and your co workers can take a stand by walking out. Just make sure you think about whether or not it is worth it to you. Do you need the money? Can you easily find a new job? These are factors to consider that are sadly part of the madness of "working for the man". Unless you are your own boss, you will always be someone else's b*****. I advise you leave there and not look back unless he is raising your salary, then again I am a bit of a rebel like that.

Answer 2

The first sentence of your posting tells you everything you needed to know in the first place. Your co-worker quit, and her job duties were distributed "so we wouldn't have to hire another person." If they didn't want to pay more money, and that's why they distributed the work, why would they want to give all three of you a raise?

Does the term "dangling the carrot" mean anything to you? Based on your telling of the story, the boss didn't specifically promise you anything other then a re assessment at three months-the reassessment is now done, and none of you are getting raises. The issue here is that the three of you ASSUMED, and I don't have to tell you what ASSUMING does.

Going forward-if you are going to negotiate a raise for yourself, then you need to go ahead and do it, but negotiating as a group, unless you are part of a union, is a TERRIBLE idea. Put together the reasons you feel you deserve a raise, and go to him confidentially.

Otherwise, look for another job.

Answer 3

There is nothing you can really do. Mumbling something about raises is not exactly an iron clad commitment to give you a raise. True your boss maybe misled you and your co-workers a bit, but I don't think it was deliberate I think he just said soemthing a bit dumb.

Nonetheless he didn't really lie to you, he may have tried to get you a raise and failed, or just realized he couldn't pay more within his budget after he thought about it. Either way I'd say essentially he reassessed the situation and decided not to give out raises (but don't feel insulted he may have wanted to give raises it was just beyond his control).

Anyhow the situation now is, you and your coworkers are doing more work than you used to and not getting more money for it. If you feel you could make more money somewhere else then by all means start looking around - maybe you can, maybe you can't but you won't know unless you look. If you feel you are still probably fairly compensated for you work (even though you are now doing 1/3 more) then you probably will just have to live with it. Of course if you really think you deserve more money for the work you do (and could get more somewhere else) you could still go to your boss and ask for a raise. Maybe you want to wait a bit for this to blow over before you do that, but if you do this and the boss says no you can then still start looking for a better paying job somewhere else.

Best luck

Answer 4

Bosses are notorious for throwing out the Re-assess line. He also hit you with the inference of raises; to get you on board with the additional work load. The reassessment comes in when it comes to decide to hire a new person.

Basically your raises are decided when the company does their budget for the year. If increases are warranted, they are only for a certain amount. If the payroll expense in a particular area is decreased, you boss looks good. Better for his review. His roll is to get the job done at the least amount of expense for the bottom line. If that means to hold off on filling a position; then he will.

If the three of you can get the work of 4 people done without much of a problem, then it looks like your area was over-staffed before. If the work was not getting done, then this would justify hiring another person.

The promise of a raise was ploy to get the work done with one less person.

Sorry, hope this answer helps.

Answer 5

Yeah that sucks.

I went through a similar situation. I started a petition of everyone that heard the person say that we would be getting paid. We then submitted the petition with all of the signatures to the director (which ranked higher than my manager). They investigated the situation for a week and then back paid us all. I did get a slap on the wrist for not completely following the "chain of command". I think I was supposed to go to the human resource office first.

Maybe you could do something similar but BEWARE.

Authorities will know you and consider you to be somewhat rebellious and a trouble-maker. You should weigh your outcomes before doing something like that because their attitudes towards you may change and make it very difficult for you to do your job and like it, but on the other you "might" get paid.

I hope this helps and give you some ideas. Just be well organized and professional with your presentation and in the future document EVERYTHING in writing!

Answer 6

If your fellow workers are willing to testify in court, you could sue him for... something... an oral contract IS binding if there are witnesses. If I were you three, however, I would all quit at the same time on the same day. Just be ready to grab all your stuff and go. Then he might just get the idea that a company doesn't exist without workers. Try to have another job lined up. It would probably be best to do this after you get your paycheck - your boss sounds like a real "piece of work".

Answer 7

He re-determined and it did not merit an increase. In the working world, most employers will just not hand out a raise unless they have to. Weasel words like "re assess" spare him from saying, "I'll pay more in 3 months"; but that is not his "word" that you would be getting a raise.

Answer 8

Sounds like you might want to have a conference with the co-workers and the boss, so that you can clear up any and all misunderstandings. If you go above your bosses head, you will only cause trouble. Or, you can look for another job.

Answer 9

make the check you get is actually signed and the date is not a month in the future

also, deduct a few points from that bosses credibility

remind him again what he said, see if he lies to you, HE would know if he is lying

if he says, well I said it but now the money isn't there and why, then cut him some slack

otherwise, consider working somewhere else, in addition to that place at first, then leave

Answer 10

Actually he didn't go back on his word. You state he mumbled something about raises, be he did not give you his word that you would recieve a raise. It sounds like the reassess referred to whether or not he needed to hire someone or if the three of you would be able to handle it.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the three of you made something out of nothing. Sorry.