Here's the issue: I work in a store in the mid-south region, and during the interview, the HR person said they would hire me at around $8.60 an hour. We had other people training with us, and for me and another employee, the HR person re-stated that they would be paying us $8.60 an hour. I turned down offers from other good companies because of Kroger's alleged offer.
Turns out that after I receive my paycheck, they want to pay me like $7.50 or so an hour, so I lose over a dollar per hour. The alleged start off pay of $8.60 was justified because I had a considerable amount of experience in the grocery and retail business. The 8.60 would have been a reasonable start off amount given my experience level, and overall potential (I've worked in practically every dept. at my other store for years; when I left, I had reached the top pay-out amount that their regulations allowed for employees.
I'm just going to treat this issue in the light of "it is what it is"; this wasn't some innocent mistake. To me, it tells me what the HR person thinks of me, and maybe they think I'm dumb enough to go along with it. Whatever the case may be, I was curious if an experienced worker would recommend that I report or consult someone at Corporate or maybe even the union about the matter - b/c its cut and dry when you look at it. I really don't care to have my HR manager assess anything about me, and if I were to quit, I don't trust them when it comes to leaving with a good name.
All in all, whenever you interview for a job and they quote you at what your pay will be - get it put in writing by the HR person. I saw that I made a mistake by taking them at their word, and consequently, some good businesses that would have benefited from my skills lost a chance to take me on at that time (b/c you can't work at another grocery store, including Target, etc), and I lost a chance at actually earning a wage I deserved. What the HR Mgr, or anyone for that matter doesn't know, is that I have major backers at a major school, and that I left that school to transfer to as a top flight student - papers to prove it, and a member of some major honor societies that only the top tier students get into (I won't name the groups or what percentile I was in for the sake of anonymity, but it was obviously very high). I think this is a case of people perceiving what they want to perceive, and they don't know what their employee is actually capable of. It's a disappointment, b/c some of the managers are cool as hell - but the HR person blows. So it looks like I'll have to play my cards carefully, look for other offers if they can't give a real offer, and leave on good terms. There isn't a shadow of a doubt that deception was involved, because they offered some BS "reasons" to justify taking my pay down. Like I said, get whatever your offer is from an employer in writing.
Management as a whole are shady. The will lie to your face and throw you under the bus. And if you try to bring the issue up to another member of managment, they will protect their shady comrade at all costs because the look out for each other.
In regards to your response: well put. I might speculate that the HR mgr. is willing to be that shady - b/c if shes in the union - then from my understanding, that means its harder to fire her.
As I already put it, for anyone else who wants to get hired by Kroger or take a "promotion", get it in writing, to prevent the HR mgr from having a "faulty memory".
Yeah, its bull$#!+. Its like they're really just trying to see what they can fetch, and they're giving you an IQ test. If thats the way they conduct themselves, fate has a way of catching up to them. The writing is LITERALLY on the walls at my store, where they have posters saying, "Gee, we don't get all the customers business, what could we do about that?" I know a number of reasons why they're failing, and I'll never point it out for the mgt. They can get fu)k#D as far as I'm concerned.
-OP Response to Barney's comment in regards to experiencing the same thing.
I'm probably going to try to call corporate's HR to see if I can get anything done about it, and try to stay anonymus for the time being. If they can transfer me to another store, and fix my pay - which I doubt they'll do, then I'd maybe think about it. Bottom line is to go over that bitches head and send a message across that I'm not having that bull$#!+. She might be able to hide behind her union, but she made a stupid choice to try to get a short term gain, instead of looking at the long term effects. To me, it just looks like she has formed an opinion about me, and they like to play god with their job - deciding who stays, no matter how much they lack in merit, and just making arbitrary positions. Her strategy is just bad for business on all ends. They had a pipe-swinging stud who can get the job done, but it looks like her pettyness got ahead of her. I ultimately want corporate to take the matter over, to try to keep from getting blacklisted b/c I cannot trust this woman. She doesn't pass the test for integrity and character. It's a random walk for who fills my seat once I leave, and more than likely, I don't think they will be as experienced as I am. I don't like to really talk about myself; as in, during the interview, I didn't bring up my academic acheivements, and she didn't talk long about my other pertinent experience working in the grocery business. What shes going to find out is I'm no joke, and I'll make it a point to go over her head to get the job done. She's already demonstrated piss-poor judgment. She'll get her ass handed back to her, one way or another. The message will be that she better think twice about who she crosses, b/c she doesn't even know whats coming at her. Like I said, she might be able to keep the job b/c of the union, but fate has its fickel ways of settling the score in the end. If this lady is the store's "cultural leader", then that store is fu*ked. I figure, bottom line, just deal with corporate when it comes time. Given that she pulled that stunt, that tells me all I need to know about that store. It looks like to me that some employees didn't have the balls to stand up for themselves, coupled with the fact that it may be hard to fire her, but when one looks at my C.V./resume, it will stand to reason that a certain rate of pay is justified. The fact is she broke a contract; an oral contract is a contract. And if one of the higher ups at corporate looks at all the facts, all the evidence is going to point towards me receiving better pay then what they're trying to shell out. If this company is going to have a spine or do what is right for the shareholders, then they should give this b!tch the boot. I can tell you that at the other stores I worked in, there was no need to put up the posters on the wall; we simply crushed the competition, and they ran a tighter, better ship.
hang on, this sounds familiar...this has happened to me too. I know you want to remain anon., but can you tell me what state you're in to narrow it down?
I was hired at a higher pay and it took months to get my pay corrected. You have to keep bugging them. Don't let it slide. Call the union and keep bugging HR.
I received all my back pay as well. You get pay based on experience.
I worked in HR for our entire division. I can tell you that there is a rule in the Kroger book's, that specifically says that Kroger only considers your past 5 years of work , regardless of how much experience you have. It means that if that person did not work in retail or grocery in the last 5 years, then we're not going to give them credit for it. You can have a guy who worked for the White House - in the public (read: gov't) sector, and had 15 years of retail and grocery experience prior to the 5 yr. stint, and Kroger can undermine that by simply having a rule that states what I mentioned above. So in that case, Kroger can pay as little as they want, even just minimum wage, b/c they have a dumb rule. All it comes down to is this: it's a way for Kroger to pay some employee's less. If the person stays employed with Kroger, then they're giving their consent to take that pay. The only way out is to leave the company for the time being, or forever. We all think it was a stupid rule as well, but we don't make the rules; we just had to enforce them. It speaks volumes about the company. The union can't do jack sh*t for you, b/c that set of rules precedes them; their hands are tied. The best thing to do is just leave.
