Boss not paying me what he said he'd pay me [SOLVED]

AlyceInWonderland

Okay, so I work for a small company as a Graphic Designer. My boss originally wanted to pay me something like 12 bucks an hour, which didn't fly with me. When the lead graphic designer quit, he agreed to pay me a much higher amount a year (salaried). I was grateful, and have been living (or trying to live) off what I'm getting for the past 4.5-5 months.

After looking at my pay stub (after my boyfriend noticed something off about my pay), I noticed that I should be making a little more than $2,600 more a year than what he was giving me. He's paying me $2,600 less than what we agreed upon.

I like my boss. He's a nice person, he's paying me to go to ny comic con, I get a lot of free shit from the company, so I'm hoping that this was just a mistake, and that he didn't skimp me out of hundreds of dollars these past 5 months on purpose, hoping that I didn't notice.

How do I bring this up? It's a small company, with an extremely laid back environment, and I don't want to seem that I'm "attacking" him when I confront him about this (because lets face it, this needs to be brought up and fixed. I have loan payments coming up in a month)

Do I ask for back pay to make up for the 200-ish bucks a month I lost?

I'm not opposed to posting my salary that I'm supposed to be getting, and what I'm getting now if anyone should need to know for whatever reason. Maybe I calculated something wrong?

Anyway, thanks in advance!

SatanIsMyMotor

Ask him to help you understand how the funds are broken out. Are you sure you're not losing the money to income tax, employment insurance, or health insurance (I'm Canadian so I'm not sure if they all apply for you). With regards to income tax if the salaried raise put you into a different tax bracket you may be paying in more than you were before. Just something to keep in mind. Since it's a relatively small amount I am thinking it's a deduction issue somewhere.

Powerpuppies

I'd say doube and triple check the math, and then go in and tell him "After looking at my pay stub, I noticed I'm making X. I thought we agreed on Y?" That doesn't seem confrontational or accusatory to me.

And you should definitely ask for back pay.

AlyceInWonderland

SatanIsMyMotor wrote:

Ask him to help you understand how the funds are broken out. Are you sure you're not losing the money to income tax, employment insurance, or health insurance (I'm Canadian so I'm not sure if they all apply for you). With regards to income tax if the salaried raise put you into a different tax bracket you may be paying in more than you were before. Just something to keep in mind. Since it's a relatively small amount I am thinking it's a deduction issue somewhere.

I believe I calculated everything correctly. What they take out for taxes, social security medicare, etc are all on the pay stub. What I calculated was gross pay. I'm just going to post what I make, to make sure I'm not being an idiot:

We agreed upon 35K a year. It's not high, but I literally just graduated from college, and for now it'll get me through my loans.

My paycheck, every other week, before taxes are taken out, is $1346.15.

Withholdings are:
SS: 56.53
Medicare: 19.52
Fed Income tax: 152.11
NY income tax: 55.93
NY Disability: 1.20

So, after taxes, my total paycheck is $1060.86, bi-weekly

1345.15 x 2= 2690.30

2690.30 x 12 = 32283.60

35,000 - 32283.60 = 2716.40

Usagi

Did you get it in writing Alyce? But like the other posters have mentioned, just ask him or your HR person for an explanation of your pay breakdown.

E: Nope, that's right. 35k / 26 pay periods = 1346.16 per check

Darkewolfe

Do you have an HR or Finance person/department that handles actual pay? I'd start with them, as they're likely used to employee questions on the subject and won't be immediately defensive. Just go up to them (and if there isn't such a person, do this with your boss) and say, "Hey, you're paying me $X a year, and for some reason my pay stub doesn't make sense to me. Can you help me figure out if there's something wrong with my math, or if there was a mistake in the pay system?"

And yes, if it turns out through accident or malice you are being paid less than was agreed, get it fixed and get back pay.

And if you didn't get your original agreement in writing from him, and he's changing the agreement on you now because it's not in writing, take this as a lesson on getting things in writing.

AlyceInWonderland

Usagi wrote:

Did you get it in writing Alyce? But like the other posters have mentioned, just ask him or your HR person for an explanation of your pay breakdown.

E: Nope, that's right. 35k / 26 pay periods = 1346.16 per check

Okay, awesome. I was really worried that he was messing with me on purpose. I really really like my boss (finally).

Usagi

Excellent, I'm glad I could help!

Figgy

Just to expand on that, whenever you're looking at "bi weekly," keep in mind that it isn't always 2 periods per month. There are 26 periods per year.

This is especially important for something like a mortgage, where you might have 3 payments in a month sneak up on you.

AlyceInWonderland

Usagi wrote:

Excellent, I'm glad I could help!

You really did. Thanks so much. You have no idea how much I was dreading having that conversation.

Figgy wrote:

Just to expand on that, whenever you're looking at "bi weekly," keep in mind that it isn't always 2 periods per month. There are 26 periods per year.

This is especially important for something like a mortgage, where you might have 3 payments in a month sneak up on you.

Yeah, I was totally unaware that it was based off of 26 weeks. Thanks, it makes much more sense than how I was calculating it :P

bowen

I made that mistake when I did 4 weeks a month and thought I was getting shortchanged too!

AlyceInWonderland

Haha, glad I'm not the only one. I'm really glad I asked H/A first before I went in all gung ho demanding more money :P

useless4

Gov't jobs are famous for this math. Just remember every x number of years (can't remember if it's four for leap or strangely 7 keeps coming to mind) you should have a 27 pay period year.

tsmvengy

useless4 wrote:

Gov't jobs are famous for this math. Just remember every x number of years (can't remember if it's four for leap or strangely 7 keeps coming to mind) you should have a 27 pay period year.

It's every 7 years you will get PAID 27 times in a year (not 27 pay periods). 26 pay periods X 14 days per period = 364 days, so there will be a year where you get paid on Jan 1 and the next Dec 30.

Also Alyce, remember that there will be 2 months where you get paid 3 times, if your job takes money out of your paycheck for health care they should only be taking it out of 2 of those 3 paychecks.

Heir

tsmvengy wrote:

useless4 wrote:

Gov't jobs are famous for this math. Just remember every x number of years (can't remember if it's four for leap or strangely 7 keeps coming to mind) you should have a 27 pay period year.

It's every 7 years you will get PAID 27 times in a year (not 27 pay periods). 26 pay periods X 14 days per period = 364 days, so there will be a year where you get paid on Jan 1 and the next Dec 30.

Also Alyce, remember that there will be 2 months where you get paid 3 times, if your job takes money out of your paycheck for health care they should only be taking it out of 2 of those 3 paychecks.

Not necessarily. Many companies calculate on a yearly basis and then divide by the number of pay periods in the year.

So if my total health care contribution for the year should be $1200. Then the amount that comes out each paycheck is 1200/26 = ~$46.15

Or maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you're saying.

AlyceInWonderland

I don't get health care (uhg), or do you mean the medicare deductions?

Heir

AlyceInWonderland wrote:

I don't get health care (uhg), or do you mean the medicare deductions?

Maybe that's what @useless4 meant. I read it as actual health care.