Florida Pay/promotion

[Esaw]

Hi, I live in Florida and work for a pretty big company. I started in a entry level sales position. A year later I got a promotion to a sales management level. The roll I accepted pays entry level 57K/yr - max at 95K a year. Because I got promoted from within and not as an external candidate, they based my pay increase off of my entry level position. Even when they made me apply internally for the job, it read in the description for that roll the entry level pay for the position would be 57k. When the final offer was extended out to me, it wasn't the 57k, it was a lot less. Reason, because i got promoted from within. I accepted not knowing better.  My company just hired 2 more people for the same position, doing the same thing but they came externally. Still located in Florida but in different areas and they started at the 57k and or more a year. My question is, is it right/fair and even lawfully for them to pay me less than what the position pays, especially after I've been doing it for over 8 months in this new position successfully. Can they hide behind the fact I got promoted from within and its a higher level? Also, keep in mind that I had prior experience in the field with different companies, so its not like it was all new to me. please advise. Thank you.

[Mattias]

Manny:

I can certainly understand your frustration.  It sounds as if your employer may have a compensation policy which limits the amount of a promotional increase, regardless of what the stated salary range might be for the new job.  This is fairly common.  

Unfortunately, it also is fairly common for companies to hire people from outside and pay them more than current employees doing the same jobs are making. The usual justification is the competitive market for desired talent. Both situations are lawful on their face, although they don't seem fair to the people like yourself who end up on the short end of the salary stick.  The first step might be, if you have not already done so, to talk with your supervisor and/or an HR representative to find out whether there is any possibility of you receiving special increases or larger annual increases to bring your salary up to the stated range for your job.  Many companies do it this way rather than giving very large increases at the time of the promotion.

You also may be in a position to make a claim of compensation discrimination if you are a member of a protected class under the Federal and state laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, national origin, disability, etc.  If you are, and you have any reason to believe that the pay decision in your case may have been motivated by your race, sex, age, etc., or if you think the company's compensation practice may have what the law calls a "disparate impact" on protected minorities, women, older or disabled workers,(meaning that the practice, while non-discriminatory on its face, has the effect of paying protected individuals less than, say, white males), then you may want to consider making a claim of discrimination.  If your company has an internal process for such claims, and most large companies do, you should start there, and if that outcome is not satisfactory, you can go to your state agency(the Florida Commission on Human Relations) or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file a formal charge of discrimination.

The FCHR web site is:http://fchr.state.fl.us/

The EEOC web site is:http://www.eeoc.gov/

I hope this is helpful and that you are able to resolve your issues satisfactorily.