So I used to be very laissez-faire about things, particularly about finances. I trusted that payroll knew how to do its job, that systems were set in place to protect people and their pay.
I learned recently that I was wrong.
Example #1: First of all, I noticed my company PTO wasn't going up and was in fact going down. I normally check this pretty passively. I did a self-audit, turns out they've been calculating my salary wrong, and using PTO for days I was here. In the past three paychecks, they've taken 32 hours of PTO. For no fucking reason. I emailed them and they corrected it.
Example #2: I've been working a part time seasonal job at a gift shop. The owner on the first day told me that they didn't have a login yet for me, so she would log me in. I got my paycheck a few weeks later and my time was off--by 8 hours. I emailed her and she looked into it and was like, "no, you didn't clock in that day, your name was crossed off the schedule" but because I was keeping records, I reminded her she said she would clock me in, told her the hours I worked and who I worked with. If she kept pushing it, I would have encouraged her to check the CCTV or ask other employees, who were training me. She recognized the error but again made the adjustment for only 4 hours. I had to correct her, again.
Example #3: I do on-call work for a treatment center in town. The company went through a change in their payroll process in the last 2 months, and for some reason I was not paid for 2 shifts. For 3 months. I emailed and emailed and no response. I tried to go to the payroll supervisor and was routed back to the same lovely lady who was 100% ignoring me. Finally she responded, found the documents she claimed weren't sent, and processed the payroll. For $78. I worked 15 hours at $35 an hour for $70. I asked her to review it again, and explained why I wasn't sure I was receiving $78 when I should have made well over $300.
Past me would have glossed over these things because I didn't care about finances, didn't value my time, and wasn't organized enough to correct people with facts. Do so politely, but recognize that payroll/corporations are not invested in you getting your fair earnings. I don't believe any of these instances were malicious, but it also makes me wonder how much money/PTO I've lost out on in the past just because I wasn't keeping my own records. Please learn from my mistakes. Also, when you address these issues, don't be a dick. It's likely that the payroll person made a mistake, and getting irritated will not help you. Just be clear: "these are the facts, this is the discrepancy, please review."
tl;dr: watch your money
December 06, 2018 at 03:20PM
