I want to start by saying that I generally like my job, my manager, coworkers and most of the customers, I'm also not underpaid, so I will not be quitting my job over this. I just want to rant about something that happened a few weeks ago and read what others think.
A little context first. At my job and position, they have different grades and salary ranges for each grade. For example, this means that it is possible for someone with a high salary in grade 3, to have the same salary, or even slightly higher than someone with a low salary in grade 4. I've been with this company for 7 years now, and in that time I've received 2 promotions. While the difference in salary between grades has been significant, I've always been in the low end salary range for my grade. I don't like it but I've never thought this to be much of a problem, as I've been averaging little more than 2 years in each grade.
For the past 12 months, I've been performing very well for my current grade, even going above and beyond and doing what is expected from someone of the next grade. I've been discussing with my manager a promotion for the next grade and he agreed that with my performance and consistency I deserved it. A few days later he informed me that the higher-ups in charge of those decisions said they couldn't just promote me, as there is a lot of difference between my current salary, and the starting salary for the next one. I can't be the only one that thinks this is a stupid reason, right? Is there something I'm not considering?
To be fair, my manager said he would try to do right by me and try to give me the highest raise I'm eligible for. These things are not quick and I'm usually told a couple of months ahead of time what to expect but It's been a month and I still haven't heard any news about it. Any suggestions how I should approach the topic next time I talk to my manager? Should I say anything about the reason for denying the promotion or just ask about the raise?