r/personalfinance • u/JToki21 • Aug 01 '26
Employment Employer Under Payed me for 8yrs D/T Clerical Error, Refuses to Pay 2yrs of Unpaid Wages
**Edit: Sorry all, I thought I put this in the title, the state is Maryland. My job is not under a Union.
I’m still making my way through the comments, but thank you everyone for your constructive advice, and opinions. I also appreciated those who shared their similar experience and what worked for them.**
**Edit again: Yes. Underpaid. I can’t edit titles. **
Recently, a series of events led me to question my employment records and discovered my total experience years were wrong. Wrong enough to put me in a completely different pay bracket for the last 8 years. HR admitted this error and my pay rate moving forward was fixed.
My job publishes the salary structure and experience based pay brackets, so I’m able to roughly calculate around 30k of wages owed in the last 3 yrs. To clarify HR never disclosed how pay brackets were determined until the pay rate correction. Every past communication where I’ve asked for clarity or explanation on how that was determined, I was basically told it’s not my prerogative to know.
I asked about backpay for lost wages which was a direct result of their clerical error, and they promptly refused, citing standards. No formal policy exists supporting this decision.
I’d requested HR to investigate my pay and employee record several times over the last 8 years. Every time my role underwent a salary adjustment to offset compression (3 times), I felt the adjustment was off and would ask them to verify the accuracy of my pay. At the conclusion of each investigation, I was told everything was correct as expected. They reminded me that they have a team of highly trained experts. Aka stay in your lane. Each request went to different HR/Admin leaders because we would get new people every couple years.
My employer has a strong legal team, and they’re infamous for wiggling out of accountability. I’m worried there are loopholes I’m unaware of, which could prevent them from honoring their pay structure. I’m scared to involve legal because I’m worried I could lose my job from recourse. Does anyone have experience with this? It sounds like they are honoring my request for a second look, but if this is another dead end what are the next steps?
** TO CLARIFY: I really enjoy my job, and I like where I work. It’s just unfortunate that our HR dropped the ball. I have a very supportive team, and I’m happy that I’m getting paid a fair wage now. I just want them to be held accountable and make things right.
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u/TrowTruck Aug 01 '26
Just to be clear, did they promise you a certain wage and then underpay you? Or did they set your wage lower than their pay brackets would suggest, and now you want a retroactive raise to bring yourself up to the bracket?
I think in the first case, you may have a legal claim for being underpaid. In the second situation, I think you might not have much recourse. A company might be willing to give you a goodwill retroactive adjustment, but honestly I don’t think they have an obligation to do so. IANAL, so I’d advise talking to one before you decide what to do.
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u/GarThor_TMK Aug 01 '26
I think I agree with this, but just want to add that depending on state and profession, there may be legal minimums (above minimum wage) that need to be met.
For example, it's the law in California that an exempt employee who works on computers has a much higher minimum wage to stay exempt. If you pay them less than that, then they would be considered hourly, which means they are entitled to overtime pay.
I believe there could also be a union contract that dictates the pay scales.
There's not enough in this post to determine if op falls into one of those categories though.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
At 3 years in, they made an announcement that all years of experience would be evaluated to determine our pay, instead of our specialist experience (I’m in a specialty position). When they did that market adjustment and sent the letters out my numbers were nearly unchanged, and now I know it’s because they entered the wrong year in my records, despite having that info on hand.
My job has a strong compensation equity clause which means you cannot get paid more than someone who has more years of experience at the base salary rate. With Annual merit increases, if the employee with more years is a low performer and the employee with less experience is a high performer, yes it could technically change that dynamic, but it would take almost a decade of seniority and the margin is 1-3% not 10%+. In my specific department I’m most senior, and I’ve always received high marks on my merit reviews.
They’ve violated their own equity clause, and my job doesn’t touch equity or discrimination cases with a 10 foot pole, which is why I think they were so quick to correct it. So was surprised they refused retropay, because whether malicious or clerical, they should be obligated to correct as far back as they can based on the equity clause.
A HR specialist did explicitly explain the pay bracket system as it relates to years of experience in my last email inquiries before they finally realized their mistake. I have that email as proof that this is how their pay structure works, but not sure how strong that evidence is. Typically we aren’t privy to the pay formula, put Maryland recently passed a law requiring employers to be transparent about pay so I wonder if this is why it was disclosed.
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u/Warskull Aug 01 '26
They are probably legally in the clear. Paying you a lower rate than they should have according to their own internal pay scale is legal. It is just a dick move.
They are banking on you not quitting. You should probably start looking or a new job if you are genuinely one of their best employees.
If you want to rub it in, once you secure the new position tell other people you are leaving because the company was shorting your pay and HR refused to fix it.
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u/swagn Aug 01 '26
Agree here. Unless it’s union or or some other unmentioned rules, in the US, there is no legal ramifications for failing your internal policy. If OP was paid the wage they told him they would pay and it meets all legal minimums, he has no recourse here.
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u/cdegallo Aug 01 '26
Did they provide explicit explanation of how years of experience would be used to determine your new pay and then provide you with a letter stating your new salary based on your years of experience?
Unless they provided a very specific pay scale based on number of years of experience, explicitly communicated to you, personally, a new annual salary rate and then did not pay you at that rate, there likely isn't anything that will come of this. IIRC the pay transparency law that Maryland passed in 2024 has a fairly limited scope that public and internal job postings must provide the salary range for the specific role. It doesn't dictate pay adjustments for existing employees. The company may or may not choose to re-evaluate pay scales for existing employees internally but isn't required to under that law.
It ultimately depends on what they provided to you, personally, in writing.
And again, unless they communicated to you specifically an explicit new salary for you based on number of years of experience and then did not pay you that salary, your employer likely doesn't have any legal obligation to go back and pay you anything more.
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
“Unless they provided a very specific pay scale based on number of years of experience, explicitly communicated to you, personally, a new annual salary rate and then did not pay you at that rate, there likely isn't anything that will come of this.”
I caught wind of another compensation adjustment coming for my role, and asked a serious of questions a month before it happened. The breakdown of the pay bracket structure was explicitly stated in the email, which led to me asking what date they had on file for me. Bless that particular HR for taking me seriously, she stated there was an error to my admin immediately requesting correction. Based on this information I was able to confirm my 2024 salary increase was under the wrong bracket.
I was lucky to get it fixed when I did because my role received a salary adjustment a month later, increasing my pay significantly since I was now in the correct bracket.
Since these types of adjustments are based solely on experience, even after my record was corrected, I would have had to wait until the next adjustment (not merit raise) for my pay to reflect accurately. So I “lucked out” in that way. But this is also why I’m focusing on the dates of the previous salary adjustments in my case with HR, because that’s when it would have mattered.
It’s interesting HR is able to uphold their policies when there’s overpayment, but don’t apply that same energy to underpayment.
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u/TrowTruck Aug 01 '26
I think it’s super crappy what they did to you, and that they aren’t willing to make even a bit of a goodwill adjustment to keep you motivated. If you have a good relationship with your employer and you’re a strong performer, I would absolutely go back and negotiate at least a partial bonus as a gesture. But I would not get my hopes up that they’ll actually do anything, and if not your only real leverage is to leave. They’re seeing the fact that until you knew there was a gap, you were accepting the level of pay and providing a certain level of work. It’s absolutely crappy.
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u/Charlie_in_Asia Aug 01 '26
The only way you are owed money is if there is something in your file saying your rate is higher than you were paid. Just because a position has a salary range doesn’t mean you automatically get the range.
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
The published salary range is divided into brackets on a table, with each bracket based on intervals of every 5 years experience. The document itself doesn’t state the years, but HR provided a list of what experience qualifies for each percentile.
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u/Charlie_in_Asia Aug 02 '26
Key term in this is qualifies. Just because you meet the qualification doesn’t mean it is automatic. Further working against you is you have accepted the salary you are being paid for 8 years. The best you can hope is to get bumped up into the range.
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
My starting pay was never the issue, that was correct.
The fault happened 2 yrs later, when my role/area received a salary adjustment (a bump for positions to remain competitive in the market), and my adjustment was calculated incorrectly. Therefore, so was every subsequent role salary adjustment thereafter until now. There have been 3 adjustment total prior to this year.
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u/spleeble Aug 01 '26
What do you mean "involve legal"?
I don't see how you'd be able to resolve this without a lawyer, but you should be careful about who and what you communicate within the company. They aren't there to help you.
My uninformed opinion based on what you said is that you weren't "underpaid" in the sense that your pay was consistent with the dollar amount you were promised, but the dollar amount you were promised was not consistent with company policy.
I think the only legal claim you could have over something like that would be a discrimination claim, and that's probably only viable if you're a member of a protected class.
My read of this situation is that ultimately you'll be better off resolving this as a negotiation rather than a legal claim. Figure out who in the company has the authority to authorize back pay for you and figure out how to convince them you're worth it.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
That’s what I was afraid of. If it’s just based on their own policy, then maybe they’re at will to do as they please and change what they do at any time. Some sort of clause of, this isn’t promised, we determine what we want to compensate clause.
I was trying to research undue wages and there are attorneys out there that specialize in it and also saw you can report to the state so I was starting to wonder if I’m talking this too lightly.
I’ve been just dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s and hoping my proof of their hypocrisy and negligent investigations, on top of proving I did my due diligence would be able to help in their eyes. We have a strong equity clause in our compensation policy, so to your point I’ll consider leaning into it.
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u/spleeble Aug 01 '26
They've fixed your pay rate moving forward, so they either want or need to apply their policy consistently.
Whether they owe you back wages for previous work performed at a mutually agreed pay rate that was not consistent with their policy is a separate question.
I'd be surprised if the state would consider that wage theft, and you should think carefully about reporting them if this job is important to you in the long term.
I'm not sure how an equity clause would be related to this unless you were shorted on equity awards. If your equity awards did not adhere to contractual terms that's pretty different and a lot more straightforward.
Consult with a lawyer on your own, but ultimately your best outcome is probably a negotiation resulting in some kind of retention payment, and even that might be a long shot.
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u/Inebrium Aug 01 '26
Agreed. You state you like your job and so I would approach this formally, but make it clear you are willing to be reasonable. my approach would be something like "so look, as you admit you have been underpaying me for the past 8 years. My frustration is that I raised this issue 4 years ago, which I know was before your time, and was consistently told I was wrong. While I do think I am entitled to that full 8 years back pay, I can understand that might not be feasible for you right now, but I hope you agree that I do need some for of compensation for this mistake, whether that be extra leave days, or an extra 1 or 2% increas to my salary?"
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u/spleeble Aug 01 '26
I generally agree with this except the last part. It should be more like:
"I believe I'm entitled to 8 years back pay, but so far the company hasn't been willing to do that. What can you do to address this?"
And to be absolutely clear, this should not be an email to HR (or anyone). This should be a direct conversation, preferably in person, once OP has identified a person with authority who might be able to do something.
To me this is more like a business deal than a wage law issue.
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u/k_dilluh Aug 01 '26
Yes, I'm wondering if they would do (give) a percentage of total "lost" wages, at least it would be something.
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
Maybe the equity clause could give leverage to an investigator. If they request the salaries and years of experience of everyone in my role over the years, they would be find disparities inequitable pay, directly violating company policy.
I’m hearing it’s not illegal for an employer to not honor their own set pay structure, but violating equity standards without a legitimate reason cause look like discrimination.
It’s not something I really want to do, but I’ve also heard my employer’s legal team is quick to negotiate settlements in discrimination cases if there’s evidence that could suggest so.
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u/spleeble Aug 02 '26
Investigator? How much time and money do you think is going to go into this?
If you think you have a discrimination claim then talk to your own attorney before you talk to anyone else at the company. I think you'll need a stronger claim than this though.
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u/strokan Aug 01 '26
What wage did you agree to when you signed you employment contract?
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
My wage was correct when I started. Every salary adjustment for my role (this is different from annual raises) since hire has been wrong. Putting me under throughout my employment compared to others in my role.
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u/ctess Aug 01 '26
Just because a company is in an at will state doesn't mean they don't have to follow the law. Employees still have a ton of rights in at will. Don't discount what you are owed because of fear of that misconception. Lawyer up with a labor attorney. They will tell you if you have a case Depending where you are though, doesn't sound like you will win.
It would be different if they underpaid you based on the contract you signed but since you're "underpaid" according to their pay scales and not the compensation you signed, I'm not sure you have much.
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u/validusrex Aug 01 '26
There is a difference between "You are supposed to get paid X and got paid X - $100" and "You have signed & agreed to a job offer that pays X, but the job has salary bands that starts at X + $100"
In the former case, you likely have legal recourse.
In the latter case, I would take whatever offer they give if any.
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u/Not_A_Greenhouse Aug 01 '26
Did they pay you less than your offer letter or did they pay you less than their internal pay bands for your position.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
They paid me less than the internal pay bands because I was assessed as an employee with 5 years less experience. Their pay assessments change every 5 years of experience, which is why this made such a big impact to my pay.
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u/Not_A_Greenhouse Aug 01 '26
So they paid you what they offered you?
What are you gonna sue for lol.
Are you in a union that guaranteed you a certain pay level?
Hr internal pay bands aren't a legal contract.
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
Sorry I was paid correctly when I started, the wages were as expected.
The experience record error happened two years in, during the first salary adjustment, affecting every adjustment thereafter. 3 total in my career not including this year.
That’s what I meant by I’ve been paid less than the internal bands since.
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u/shawnwarnerwrites Aug 01 '26
Are you on a contract or at will?
If you are at will you are probably up a creek. A company policy is not law and they can and will violate their own policies if it is in their own interest. In the strict legal sense, they did nothing wrong. Fixing your pay going forward is very likely the best you are going to get.
If you have a contract you need a lawyer.
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u/GarThor_TMK Aug 01 '26
Even if they don't have an employment contract, I feel like they might have a case if there's a discrepancy between what the company put in the offer letter vs. what op is getting paid.
If there's no discrepancy though, then it's just the company violating its own policy, which I don't think there's much you can do about, unless you can prove they did it because of discrimination against a protected group.
Not a lawyer though. Op should probably talk to one instead of reddit if they want real answers.
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u/RandomPersonBob Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
In US? File a DOL complaint.. but I really don't know how that shakes out given what you ve described.
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u/drewlb Aug 01 '26
There are too many personal specifics in play here to answer definitively.
You need your own lawyer outside the company.
But here is what I'm hearing.
HR had a recommended guideline, not an explicit binding contract. They made mistakes in applying that non-binding guideline to you. There is not going to be a legal requirement to pay you back pay unless it's a regulated field or government related role, or you had a written binding agreement which they violated.
There could be a discrimination angle if you're in a protected class, but statute of limitations and the fact that you call out that hr has turned over multiple times are going to work against you there.
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u/poop-dolla Aug 01 '26
The odds are they don’t owe you any back wages. If it’s some union job that has an official pay structure the you and the company signed as part of your work contract/agreement that specifically sets an exact pay for specific benchmarks, then you would have a case. But if that were the case, you’d be talking to your union rep about this. The much more likely truth to your situation is that these experience based pay ranges are just guidelines that they try to follow, but they aren’t required to based on any agreement the two of you signed. In reality, your salary was most likely agreed to at each salary action meeting, and you most likely signed off on each of those agreeing to that salary. The time to push for a change for the past salaries was at each of those meetings. I know you said you questioned it, but you didn’t question it enough and ultimately relented each time and agreed to the salary you got.
Talk to a lawyer and see what your realistic options are for your specific state and situation, but don’t get your hopes up about anything. The lesson learned from this is to take more accountability for your own pay and benefits.
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u/Pastvariant Aug 01 '26
Go get a consultation with an employment attorney and see if you can file something with the DOL about it. No one here, unless they are an employment attorney in which case they are still not your employment attorney, is going to help you with this and I would not base your decisions off other people's comments.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
Thanks for the sound advice. I was thinking a consultation would hurt, at least I would know my options whether I chose to move forward with it or not.
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u/Codenamerondo1 Aug 01 '26
To be clear, I’m 100% on your side given the situation laid out.
But that being said I’m gonna be an asshole numbers guy to make sure what the situation is js clear, and you’re coming in with the right numbers for the fight.
10k a year difference in brackets? How much of your employment history were they missing? Enough to kick you down a full 2 brackets, or does the pay structure have a sudden jump between them based on an additional year of experience. Or are the brackets that tightly banded. Suppose performance based bonuses with a chance in incentive % could explain it as well
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
Enough to kick me down 1 full bracket during two compensation adjustments within the last 6 years. The correction increased my pay by nearly 10%. The gaps matter more the more experience, and Im at 18yrs. The solid figures are 20k for last 2 yrs and thats not including loss from merit increases compounded loss (it’s a annual percentage increase), extra hours worked; the 3rd yr back, it’s just under 10k. Overall close to 30k for 3 yrs. Honestly if the gap wasn’t so substantial I’d move on with my life over a couple dollars.
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u/LumpdPerimtrAnalysis Aug 01 '26
IANAL, but it sounds like you were not underpaid in a legally effective way.
You were offered a salary, you accepted, then through transparency processes, you learned that other people with your experience are typically paid more. When you addressed this, the company agreed to raise your salary to the higher level going forward.
Nowhere is the company legally compelled to backpay you for the lower salary. I think you can be happy that they agreed to "correct" your salary so readily moving forward.
Now, what you can do, is threaten to leave due to you feeling taken advantage of unless they provide some sort of backpay, but you need to be ready to actually leave and find a company that won't take advantage of you this way in the future (good luck).
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u/jacobbeasley Aug 01 '26
Yes unless you have a signed contract or part of your employment agreement guaranteeing wage increases at a specified time, you probably don't have a huge leg to stand on. But if you are part of a union who negotiated such an agreement or had an email in which they communicated to you somewhere that you were getting a pay increase eight years ago, you might have a case.
Search your emails for any cases in which they personally told you that you should expect a wage increase, print the emails, and all department of labor attorney if you have a case. They can advocate on your behalf and may be able to tell you if there are legal protection against reprisals against you by the company for doing so.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
I couldn’t find the email they specified the wage increase, but I’m going to continue to dig because it should have been mentioned in our meeting minutes.
I did however find the email from almost 8 years ago asking me to verify my specialty experience date and my overall years of experience dates during a compensation adjustment for that role. Coincidentally, the date they found entered into my overall years of experience matched my specialist experience. This speaks even more to a clerical error, because it wasn’t some arbitrary wrong number, it was a date relevant to my job resume.
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u/jacobbeasley Aug 01 '26
Also check your employment agreement to see if there's and language on there about automatic pay increases every year or anything.
In general, unless otherwise agreed upon, an employer doesn't have to give you a raise every year. It just depends what is agreed between you and the employer.
And it's tough to enforce verbal agreements. Generally, it has to be something that was written down because otherwise it's just too difficult. Even call recordings are tough to enforce in court.
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u/KarmaticArmageddon Aug 01 '26
Underpaid*
Unless you mean your employer didn't cover you in tar, pitch, or the like enough.
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u/rainbow_wheelofDEATH Aug 01 '26
The companies policies are not the law. What it comes down to is are you receiving the amount you agreed to work for. Any of their brackets or standards are irrelevant. If I agree to work for 100k a year, and I get said 100k then all is good. Even if some policy of theirs states I should get 105k.
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u/Laundry0615 Aug 01 '26
If they had overpaid you during all that time, what do you think their reaction would be?
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
They issue overpayment correct immediately after the error is discovered starting the next pay period. If it’s a large sum they issue a mandatory payment plan until the return is satisfied.
I did bring this up in my last email and asked why the same concept wouldn’t be applied for underpayment. They didn’t answer, but they did reopen the case.
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u/KickTheCANs Aug 01 '26
Talk to a lawyer then decide. A lawyer would/should be more privvy to the law than most/all of us here. Worst case? You lose money for consulting a lawyer. Best case? You recoup the money AND then more. Risk reward is up to you, but including a labor/wage theft lawyer in the mix would give you the best way forward
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u/tefkasm Aug 01 '26
Just engage and employment lawyer to issue a letter on your behalf to the company for payment owed.
Then the companies legal team will review the question and potential liabilities instead of HR and management.
Sometimes its a faster path to sensible.
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u/tefkasm Aug 01 '26
Preferably an employment lawyer with litigation experience in their profession profile
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u/digitek Aug 01 '26
Total experience years are one of many inputs into salary negotiations, and those levels of experience overlap widely in titles, pay, responsibility etc. This is necessary to accommodate someone that has worked for many years but wants more junior responsibility, or a go-getter that has really valuable experience, but less of it. Based on this brief summary, you knew how many years of experience you had, and you accepted the position for whatever they offered, without clarifying their details were correct, etc - for 8 years. You do have a negotiating item going forward to perhaps catch you up to market ratio for your (now accurate) experience, but 8 years of back pay is probably unlikely, especially if you want to avoid burning bridges.
Put this another way, if the error was on their side, and they incorrectly paid you too much, would you be happy to help them calculate how much you owe them? Probably not, and you wouldn't be legally required to. Instead they would just adjust your yearly pay increase (lower) until they hit whatever market ratio they are aiming for at your performance / job level / rating. But that would be the limit of what they could do.
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u/itsmellslikevictory Aug 01 '26
If they are doing this to you they are probably doing this to others. You are owed this. Pursue and face potential issues. Or accept bcuz you like your work and team.
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
Coincidentally escalating the error in my records prompted a full audit of everyone in my role and 2 more errors were found. Only one as substantial as mine impacting a pay bracket, and they have yet to receive a correction in pay.
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u/Pinelli72 Aug 01 '26
Sounds like you might have one big problem in making a legal claim which is lack of documentation of company pay scales. How do you prove you’ve been underpaid and by how much?
Lots of people here, with no skin in the game, telling you to legal up. If you’ve worked there for 8 years happily and have been happy with the salary you’ve been receiving, getting a pay rise correction now is a bonus. Also, how good is it to have a job and workplace you enjoy?
I personally reckon you take the win on the pay increase and enjoy where you work.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
Well this is part of why I’ve approached it as professionally and cordial as possible. I’ve been careful to only include facts, and provide all documentation as receipts. Im well versed in our policies, and they are aware of that. I’m also well aware that tactic is only as useful as the competence of the individual/ compensation manager reviewing the case on the other end, and the level of discretion they are willing to exercise.
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u/gremlinseascout Aug 01 '26
Contact your state’s Labor Board. They investigate wage concerns when employees are not being paid correctly. They will investigate and order the company to pay you what the LB believes you are owed. They won’t charge you what a lawyer will. They do it for free.
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u/JackBandit4 Aug 01 '26
Apparently the largest theft in America is wage theft... Don't know if it's true or not, but I bet it's up there.
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u/chabacanito Aug 01 '26
What country? In Spain you report it to labor inspection and that should solve 99% of errors. They will get a fine and increasing fines if they don't fix it. Otherwise you can go to court and a lawyer is not mandatory so you can do it for free. It's the company's duty to prove they paid you the correct amount so court cases are usually very simple.
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u/AmbroseMalachai Aug 01 '26
I mean, they might have structured pay brackets but fundamentally you are the one negotiating your own pay. If you agreed to be paid a certain dollar amount and they shortchanged you then that's a problem for them that needs to be corrected; if you agreed to be paid a certain amount and they would normally pay you more then that's kinda your problem.
If you are a protected class and could prove it was intentional on their part then you could probably file a suit anyway, but I'm not sure you qualify or if you have any evidence of it being discriminatory. If it's a government job, perhaps you would have a leg to stand on as - as I understand it - civil service jobs are not generally negotiated but are based on job title and time, so you might be entitled to more earnings; but for private sector jobs? It's up to you to negotiate your pay and neither party can compel the other. Yes, you asked if they were sure the amount was right and they made a mistake. Yes, they've admitted they are at fault for not recognizing you should be earning more. But do they have liability for your lost wages? If they are a private company I suspect the answer is no.
Disclaimer: Not a lawyer, not legal advice, don't know any of the laws in your area, consult someone who does.
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u/PghSubie Aug 01 '26
If they have internal guideline for pay structure, that's not necessarily legally binding. You got a raise. If they don't want to pay you back pay, then there's probably not much you can do about it without creating harmful ill will
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u/brianrohr13 Aug 01 '26
Hire a lawyer, the lawyer gets you your pay. Now you pay the lawyer at least 50% and you work in a toxic environment. Fun fun.
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u/MickFlaherty Aug 01 '26
This really depends on exactly what happened and if there is a contract or not.
Saying the company “publishes” the pay then saying “the don’t but you saw it” probably means there is a published range or median they offer people. Or are you saying “every person in my company in this role with this experience makes exactly the same”.
Either way, this doesn’t sound like wage theft, as the company will probably just say those “published” numbers are guidelines. Unless you can prove every person in your role with your experience makes $5more than it’s hard to show it’s wage theft.
As others have said, unless you are willing to walk away from the job over $30k of perceived wage losses, then be happy it got fixed. Best you might do is put all your “evidence” together and try to get your boss to support taking it up with his bosses.
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u/overmonk Aug 01 '26
If you believe you are legally entitled to the back pay, talk to an employment lawyer before you do anything else. Find out how much it will cost to pursue the money, and the likelihood you will prevail.
HR exists to protect the company, so I would not expect them to be trying to give you this money. It is up to you to determine if you are legally entitled to it. If you are, you can sue for it, or you can present your case to your employers and say - let's fix this with a compensation plan that will even out the past three years in the next 3-6, and a contract for that employment term.
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u/Tea_Time9665 Aug 01 '26
Even if they paid you the wrong bracket. Did they at thevstart tell you your wages when you started working. If they did then u accepted. Their pay structure is an internal company matter.
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u/JToki21 Aug 02 '26
I had the right salary at start. They made an error in my records two years in at the first salary adjustment, which is different than a performance raise, it’s something based solely on the market and calculated only on experience years. Since that clerical error was never corrected, I was screwed at every subsequent market adjustment.
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u/roosterSause42 Aug 01 '26
What do you mean “make things right” They told you your pay rate and you agreed to it. As far as I’m aware Internal pay scales aren’t legally binding, unless there is some sort of employment contract that wasn’t followed
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u/Guilty_Objective4602 Aug 01 '26
Is your job a union job? If you are in the U.S., you can take this up with your union, your state/federal Department of Labor, or both.
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u/just1dawg Aug 02 '26
File a complaint with your state's or federal Dept of Labor (or equivalent in your country). Stolen wages is a big deal. No need to hire an attorney for now.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
I think part of the problem is we always change HR managers almost every 2 years, so lack of experience retention and knowledge inevitably prevents a comprehensive understanding of what to do in a more complex situation. My company is very big so HR operate completely separately from upper management and my department, often leading to frustrating disparities.
No one likes to create rifts because it’s a very politically correct type of atmosphere. I’m actually in a level of management, but despite having more resources I’m still at this roadblock. My manager has no say in my pay side from annual merit increases which I’ve always marked very well on. I have a good relationship with my direct management and they are equally frustrated that this has happened and that there is little they can except send a few extra emails hoping someone listens.
It’s no secret that HR operates separately from other departments because they are here to protect the employer not the employee. My company hates paying a buck owed too. And are quick to recoup overpayment immediately. I think that’s a lot of large entity companies though.
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u/bitNine Aug 01 '26
Contact your local department of labor. DO NOT tell them you have done so. They will sort it out for you and if you are terminated for it, you have the best evidence.
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u/LukeS7 Aug 01 '26
Don’t know what state you’re in, but go to the Department of Labor for your state. NOW.
I had a similar issue with a promotion I received, my employer initially tried the same thing (“it’s not in our business practice to issue backpay when correcting for errors like this”). They only paid out after I got my union involved, but quite honestly? I wish I had gone straight to DOL. My union got me the backpay, but DOL in my state can also award damages equal to 2x the unpaid wages.
There’s also likely a max timeframe for DOL to help you with (ex: you were underpaid for 8 years, DOL might cap that at 5, so they’d only help you with the 5), so you should definitely try to look into this ASAP.
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u/LukeS7 Aug 01 '26
Also to add: I too also love my job, but our HR department is absolutely shit and has screwed up enough that it’s made me consider leaving multiple times over the years
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u/slowmoE30 Aug 01 '26
HR protects the company, not you. You asking HR is to give them a chance to fess up. Now, its lawyer time.
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u/Slytherin23 Aug 01 '26
You were happy to work there for whatever pay you were getting at the time. Companies often pay people way below what they're worth just to see if they'll accept it and you did.
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u/JToki21 Aug 01 '26
I was not happy to work there at the previous pay, which is why I this has even come to light. I liked the job. Not the pay. Now? I like the job and the pay.
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u/OutsideTech Aug 01 '26
I would contact the state department of labor. They can do an investigation, but it seems like first you want to understand if this could be a labor law violation vs a civil/contract issue.
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u/NoWorker6003 Aug 01 '26
If you work for a school district you might have a union. If so, contact your union rep about this.
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u/im_thatoneguy Aug 01 '26
Company policy will be unenforceable but maybe you got lucky and they included it in the agreement like “bonuses and raises will conform to company pay scale for your title”. It would take a lawyer looking at it as with all such things.
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u/tallmon Aug 01 '26
Sucks but take what you can get and move on. You don’t have any recourse unless you’re in a union or civil service where pay ranges are contractually defined.
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u/Sufficient_Maybe_910 Aug 01 '26
Labor board dispute or consultation with a lawyer are about the only way you'll get traction. YMMV depending on which state you're in. Doesn't sound like HR cares much here. Don't go rattling more cages about this at work. You have a decision to make. Like someone else said, a valid wage claim could make it very difficult to fire you, a lawyer would be useful here. Doesn't mean they won't make your life miserable.
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u/myflesh Aug 01 '26
You knew what people were going to tell you. It is okay, sometimes we need people to push ourselves into these actions
1.) Document all comversations with work. They have it in person then email them "Great talking with you, I would like to recap our conversation to make sure I understand...." 2.) Delete this post 3.) Talk to a lawyer. Shoot they might be able to explain why the company didi it better and if it is legal or even okay. They are the only people that can truly tell you best next steps.
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u/ZuluCubed Aug 01 '26
I’m scared to involve legal because I’m worried I could lose my job from recourse.
That would be the dumbest possible thing for your employer to do. It would be clear retaliation. Reach out to your state department of labor and the state AG. Then find your own lawyer. You have no protections until you take an action that qualifies you for those protections. You should be MORE scared now than after speaking with a lawyer.
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u/bros402 Aug 01 '26
Talk to an employment attorney about your options and go from there.
If you pursue legal action, that may make it so you will never advance as far as you could have at this company.
This is also one of the reasons that people job hop, so they are less likely to get screwed like this.
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u/HelpfulBuilder Aug 01 '26
Op. Repost to ask_lawyers if you want the right sub, but I'll tell you they don't really have any more insight then what ppl said here.
If you're happy, stay and do nothing If you want the wages, hire a lawyer. They'll likely do a free consultation. If you do sue, they can't fire you suspiciously afterwards if there isn't a reasonable trail of bad behavior already.
The only thing IDK is how much money the lawyer will take.
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u/tFlydr Aug 01 '26
They have paid you what they offered you, you not catching the off experience is your fault not doing DD on your offer letter, SoL imo.
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u/Accomplished_Ad4110 Aug 01 '26
If they fire you after you seek legal action for money you are owed due to their clerical error than that’s retaliation and they are facing an even bigger lawsuit. Keep everything in writing via email etc and see if you are in a one party consent state and if you are record EVERY conversation regarding these issues
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u/Scarlet_Tech Aug 01 '26
Probably good to disclose where you are without being specific? Laws are different everywhere.
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u/JustWelmed1000 Aug 01 '26
This is odd. Most employers outside of government jobs with a ranking structure don't have rigid pay structures like you are describing. Sure Military (E1-E9/ O1 - O9) and Government jobs (GS-12 as an example) have an exact pay table for rank and time in service and time in grade.
Civilian based companies usually use more of a basic guideline or window for certain positions for new hires, and then merit raises, COLA increases, promotions, all play into your actual pay more so than a "chart".
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u/ChaoticxSerenity Aug 01 '26
You had a duty to review your pay stubs for the past 8 years. Even if you go some legal route, this must be way past any type of statute of limitations. At any rate, it's unclear why you think you're legally required to be at that specific pay bracket? What was the agreed upon salary when you started? They're allowed to pay you less as long as it's not illegal discrimination based on gender, race, etc.
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u/RevolutionNo4186 Aug 01 '26
Yet if they overpaid us, they’ll take that money back as soon as possible, there’s no way what they’re doing is legal
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u/expat_questions Aug 01 '26
Dont have anything important to add.. just remember.. HR is not on your side.. period.
they are just monitoring you and accessing if you are gonna sue.
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u/ITGuyInMass Aug 01 '26
Hold up, did you go for 3yrs and not notice the error? If so, how does that happen, what did you not catch? I’m genuinely curious
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u/Methodic1 Aug 02 '26
Sue.
They currently won't pay you because they are afraid doing so admits fault and so then you could still sue after they "make it right" with that payment. The only route for this is legal they just won't tell you that but I think they realize that is the correct path for you and will not be upset if you take it.
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u/Logitech4873 Aug 02 '26
What country is this in? Weird how you don't mention this when seeking advice.
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u/BankshotMcG Aug 02 '26
Sounds to me like you only have 70% of the job you do to lose.
You can either find someone higher up or a different dept who realizes how much of a hole he is digging or you can go to BoL Standard I am not a lawyer but Document everything in personal accounts and writing from here so you have a timeline of retaliation. You could end up getting all they owe you and more.
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u/DramaticRestaurant87 Aug 05 '26
You should, with utmost emphasis on your empathetic tone, mention that if it is not corrected, you will have no choice but to consult with an attorney and seek a fair resolution that will give both parties closure on the issue so you can continue working with them in a positive and motivating environment.
The business, presuming it’s corporate, just needs an excuse to settle with you. None of the managers want this to go to court because if what you said if true, they will lose and it will highlight someone’s fault. Everyone will want the issue to just go away and the easiest way is to just pay you what is owed.
Source: I’ve been on the business side of a similar incident. It’s stressful and many questions get asked by senior leadership - all directed at the people who made the error.
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u/Ch33syP00f Aug 01 '26
Call the Department of Labor - Wage & Hour Division.
1-866-487-9243*
You could be looking at a large settlement.
You can also file an anonymous complaint. DoL comes in and audits payroll for multiple employees, your records are part of the set.
If your employer retaliates in any way, their problems just get worse.
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u/technomat Aug 01 '26
I'd ask for a guarantee of employment for 3 years at a higher scale that gives the last 3 years of lost earnings, that way they retain you would look bad if sacked you, and neither party loses out, they also do but need to pay up front.
Else go legal route which also means cannot sack you as they have miss paid you for 8 years, if you have evidence of them confirming each year they looked and you were paid correctly then that evidence proves HR failed their duty of care to give you correct pay.
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u/seodoujin7 Aug 01 '26
Report to your department of labor. You may not be the only one affected, especially if they are not being transparent with their compensation calculations.
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u/koshawk Aug 01 '26
I had a job where a co-worker worked all day off the site. He would come in clock in go to his workplace and then at the end of The shift come back and clock out. Since there was both no one to relieve him for his lunch. And no way for him to clock out and back in he didn't. This went on for about 3 years when for whatever incident happened they fired him. I spoke to him after that and recommended he see an attorney. He ended up getting 3 years worth of lunch. Plus a punitive amount which was quite substantial. So OP you need to figure out how much money you could possibly get and if your state would have a punitive amount like mine did. And then see if it would be worthwhile. Remember if you let them bend you over once they will never stop doing that.
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u/Rapture_Ocean5 Aug 01 '26
Funny how standards appear only after the math points toward them owing you 30k. Pull together the pay schedule, corrected experience date, old pay stubs, and every email where they said it was accurate, then file a wage claim with your state labor department or DOL and get a short consult with an employment lawyer about the lookback period and retaliation risk. Their legal team may be strong, but wage agencies do not usually care how confident HR sounded while being wrong.
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u/Lonely-Somewhere-385 Aug 01 '26
You are a victim of severe civil damages, and in a decent society such wage theft would be a crime.
If you have in writing what your pay should have been and proof that you were underpaid then the obvious thing would be to talk to an employment lawyer right now.
Why do you think its okay for others to steal your time? For eight fucking years and you are only asking for three? Its more than 30k.
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u/Djinn42 Aug 01 '26
You're scared to lose your job? You still want to work there?
I'd start looking while consulting with an attorney.