After working for Wind River Petroleum for a year I was asked if I would be willing to work their graveyard shift. I was promised a shift differential. As I was approaching my one year of employment with this company I was also due for the annual pay raise which is supposed to be automatic (as are bi-annual raises).
At about this time I was warned by a former store manager to watch that the company may count my annual raise as the shift differential. I don't know anyone who is so ill informed as to not be aware that a shift differential is defined as pay above and beyond your normal wages. It's purpose is to "reward" an employee for working an unpleasant, dangeous or unhealthy shift.
When it became apparent that I was indeed being denied my annual raise I brought it to the attention of my store manager who told me he would take care of it. Later he informed me that I was not due for a raise. I had received my shift differential. I was also denied my year and a half, two year and two and a half year raises. After three years I got a 25 cent raise.
There have been no issues with my job performance. I rarely miss work, have never been repremanded, and have continued to be a hard working employee (though they lost my loyalty years ago).
The finacial loss to me is in the hundreds of dollars.
Wind River Petrolium has an estimated annual sales of one to 5 million dollars.
My heart goes out to them that they are so destitute that they have to resort to deceiving employees into working unsafe and unhealthy shifts by creating this nebulous gray area where wages and shift differentials have no real definitions.
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