I was enrolled in a class on Business Ethics. The course was being paid for by my employer. They offered continuing education reimbursement for employees who wanted to further their education, as long as it was directly related to their employment. This reimbursement came out of David’s budget. I have him to thank for what I learned in that class.
We were discussing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Equal Pay Act of 1963. I found it ironic that David had told me that he could basically “test drive” me for as long as he wanted, while paying Larry one salary and I, a significantly reduced salary for performing the same work.
David was older, perhaps prior to 1963-1964, he was able to practice this style of management, but it was no longer the case. You see, I was learning in class about the same time this was happening that in 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed.
What does that mean? Well, it means that employers are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of sex, by paying wages to employees at a rate less than the rate paid to employees of the opposite sex, for equal work on jobs requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility, which are performed in similar working conditions.
Let me break that down for you as I did for David:
1. You are paying Larry more money than you are paying me. He is a man. I am a woman.
2. We have the same job description and responsibilities as noted on the job description you handed to us in a meeting. Our jobs require the same skill, effort and responsibility, the only difference is the line of insurance we manage.
3. Our jobs are performed in the same office, hence, similar working conditions.
Technically, I was being discriminated against for my sex. I had plenty of other employees who would back me if necessary as to their experience with David. Women were being paid significantly less than men.
Case in point. Phyl was a Senior Adjuster. She had been with the company for 10 years and was earning $32,000. I hired my buddy from Maryland Casualty, who was a male, to perform the same work for $42,000. I had suggested to David that we adjust Phyl’s salary to accommodate this discrimination. It was not fair that she was making $10,000 a year less than this new hire when she was doing the same work. This was of course before I took this class. I just thought it was the right thing to do and I did have my employee’s back when I felt they were being treated unfairly.
David informed me that was just the way the world revolves. If Phyl wasn’t happy, she could seek employment else where and to add salt to a festering wound he added, “She’s fat, who is going to hire her? I did her a favor.”
Phyl had no idea she was being paid significantly less. I was in no position to inform her of this without exposing the salary of the new male hire, but if push came to shove, I could certainly subpoena her as a witness.
I had been doing the duties of the manager with the supervisor pay for two and a half month’s when I stumbled across this tidbit of information in my class. A few more weeks and my “trial” would be over, so I let it ride. A month later, David had not approached me about my progress nor did he provide me with any feedback on the salary and title change, so I approached him.
Here I stood, my trial period had expired and he was ignoring me. I needed to do this correctly to protect myself if this turned sour. I typed an inter-office memorandum outlining my duties, our agreement, my accomplishments and my demand for the title and pay. He let it set for over a month. I wrote another inter-office memorandum and I copied human resources. He continued to ignore it, so I took action. I walked into his office and closed the door. I confronted him as to whether or not he had read my memos directed to him. The look on his face was one of annoyance. Yes, he acknowledged he had my memos, but he was busy. I didn’t budge. I stood there.
“Do you want something?”
“I want an answer to my memo. We struck a deal and that deal expired two months ago. You can either promote me or give me the salary for the job I have been performing, retroactive to the day I started performing those duties, or we can go to personnel and discuss this further.”
“I don’t recall our deal paying you retroactive. Furthermore, I am the Vice President of this department and right now you are displaying signs of insubordination.”
“David, have you heard of the Equal Pay Act of 1963?”
He considered himself a history buff, I’m sure he knew it all too well. “As a matter of fact I am aware of it.”
I began to recite the lack of differences in the two managerial positions and I ended on the note that one of us was paid significantly more than the other. He snickered. “You think you’ve got some thing on me, don’t you?
“No. Not at all. I think I am entitled to fair pay for the work performed and I think there is not “trial” period if I wanted to pursue this further. I am merely asking you what you are going to do so that I can decide what I need to do.”
“OK, little girl, you’ve proven your point. I’ll get back with you. You’re dismissed now.”
I just stood there. I was just as nervous as I could be. I was really flying by the seat of my pants, “When can I expect a response? I am not going to wait for an answer much longer. I want a date.”
“I’ll be in touch. I have more important things to do.”
I stood there, what did I have to give me the upper hand, to insure he would in fact get back with me instead of pushing this aside. “I’ll give you one week and if I do not have a response, I’ll follow up with personnel.” I turned to walk away. My legs were hardly able to keep me upright, I was shaking on the inside so bad.
Three days. He called me in the office. He was all giddy with excitement. “Well, you’ve gone it. I knew you could. You’ve proven to me that you are worthy. Congratulations.” He extended his hand.
He had the paper work from personnel for me to sign to support the promotion. “And the best news, I got you one helluva a raise. Effective with the next pay check, your salary will be…..”
Twelve Hundred dollars. He requested a twelve hundred dollar a year pay increase for me. One Hundred Dollars a month. Twenty Five dollars a week. I just got screwed again by David, but what he didn’t know was that I had the upper hand in this game we were playing. The company had hired a large consulting firm to evaluate the efficiencies of the department. I had been called in to a private meeting the week before and was asked to participate in this study. It was made very clear to me that anything discussed behind these meeting doors was to remain confidential. I was not to share the discussions or plans with anyone outside of this committee, to include my new boss, David.
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