Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with salary and paycheck

Do advances exist?

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:49:32 -0800

Is it possible to get an advance in salary (that is, an early paycheck) when just starting a job? I have been unemployed since I graduated from college this spring, although I started looking and applying for jobs much earlier. After a string of setbacks, I've interviewed at a couple of jobs, and I feel really good about them to the point where I truly feel that I could be on the verge of getting an offer. Although nothing has set in stone yet, this has given rise to a new problem.

Right now, I'm in dire straits financially. Were I to be hired, I currently have just enough money to get me to and from work for the first week, if that. I'm trying to change that by selling my old things, but I'm not sure if that will make a big enough dent. I would ask my parents to borrow from them if I needed too, but they have their own troubles.

So what I was wondering was this: if I get a job and it turns out my paycheck isn't weekly, or if it turns out that I won't be getting money for a while, would it be possible for me to receive part of my salary before the first check--say, after the first week, and that amount can be deducted from the check I'd get later? For the record: I'm not expecting money before I start, and these are normal, salary-based positions I've been applying for, as opposed to commission-based ones. Will companies do this? When should I ask?

I know I haven't gotten an offer yet, and I may not get one for these jobs, but it's such a pressing issue that I felt I might as well ask for future reference. Thanks!

Labor law help needed for socal govt contract employee

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:38:47 -0800

I believe my company, a government contractor, is using alot of grey areas in their employee time cards to get away with paying as little as possible. For example, I am listed with them as "salary", which by my understanding would mean I get x amount of payment per pay period. However, they still have everyone fill out a time card, and pay us per the hours we have worked. However with widely varying schedules each week due to employees being sick, or managers (who do not get paid by hour but really are salaried) taking our shifts, it means our paychecks can vary by several hundred dollars either direction.

Now this means on the upshot, I have some weeks I get to pull in more hours, and to be honest this happens more often than not. However, since they list our positions as "salary", any overtime is treated as a normal hour. We do not get 1.5x for hours over 40 per week, and do not get 2.0x for holidays, etc. We just get the same rate for every hour we work no matter when it is.

At this time let me point out that everyone's shift here is, by virtue of the fact we have 12 hour shifts for 24/7 positions and the number of people we do, a minimum of 84 hours per 2 weeks. Thats broken into a 60 hour week, and then a 24 hour week. I can provide more details on how that breaks down if it seems relevant to the issue.

Even though I'm not totally comfortable with the setup as is, I can deal with it for the most part. Concern grows however, when in the past several weeks, a sub-contractor to our company, who supplies some of the employees I share shifts with, determined our jobs to be "hourly" and has granted their people 1.5x OT and 2.0x Holidays. Our company will not grant that to us, and has now infact, cut that sub-contractor's employee's hours down to 40 per week max to avoid having to pay higher rate hours. They are now "reviewing" our entire job description in an internal investigation to find out if we are salary or hourly.

My first issue is that the people doing the review are all pro-company managers, who are NOT accountants, lawyers, or have any qualifications that I can see to carry this out. My second issue is that pending the outcome of this "investigation" we have now be subject to many rule changes.

Sick time, even though our normal shift is 12 hours, can not be used more than 8 hours at a time (per day out sick), and can not take you over 40 hours in a week. This means a day I was sick last week and took off, which I rarely do, I have lost half of my pay for, despite having 100+ sick hours saved up. If I had come in, I would have been paid 12 hours. I was too sick, so I only get 6, because the other 6 would have put me over 40 hours that week. We have in the past ALWAYS been able to use up to our "expected scheduled shift" worth of sick time per day we call out. After the fact, and after I challenged this with my manager/pay-approver, an email was sent out explaining this new rule.

So, how can you help? Thanks for asking.

I need to know, specific to Southern California, or Government contracts, as much as I can...

A) How can I get a *real* investigation into they payment practices started, by a labor board or such?

B) Is there any recourse you know of, or could see, for me to get my 4 hours sick time. I admit its more of a principle issue than the 4 hours of pay, but I'm really really pissed over it.

C) If our jobs some how are declared truely hourly, is there any precident for possibly getting the past 2 years of my life here reviewed, for a chance at pack pay for all of those 1.5x and 2.0x days I've put in?

I know no one here is a labor lawyer, or my specific lawyer, and I am fully aware I am not one either... but help if you can. Also, note, we are NOT unionized here.

If someone would like more information or to discuss this directly, you can email me at anonymous_2350@randomshit.com. Thanks.

Should I be happy with a partial salary increase?

aftermarketradio — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:41:29 -0800

How should I deal with being given a raise, but not given the agreed upon amount? Last week my boss brought me into his office and gave me a promotion with a higher salary.

This week, my paycheck does not reflect the salary he agreed to give me. It is certainly considerably more than what I was making before, and I appreciate the valuation, but it is a bit shy of the amount my boss said he would give.

As I said, I am very appreciative of his offer, and part of me just wants to forget about it and be happy with what I have. But the other part wonders where the discrepancy came from. Was there an accounting error; did he back off a bit after looking at the budget with more scrutiny; did he misspeak during our meeting? What happened?

How should I confront him about this without sounding too, uh, confrontational? Or, should I just shut up and be happy -- which I am -- and which I would have certainly been if he had initially offered me what my current paycheck indicates.

Boing! Boing!

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 19:15:32 -0800

The paychecks from my employer are bouncing. I live hand to mouth. Does that qualify me for unemployment in California? If I walk away from the company, does that mean I have quit and I am ineligible? Or am I laid off and eligible for benefits? The CA website is next to useless, and the phone number is consistently "busy" with a pre-recorded message stating that due to the volume of claims and calls, we need to try and call back later. What would you do?

Windfall!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 10:58:48 -0800

My latest paycheck is for double the amount I'm supposed to be getting paid. I get paid by direct deposit, so the money is already in my account. What do I do?