I worked a job for 2 and a half years as a research assistant in a rehab hospital. After applying, accepting the job and signing the contract, and signing a lease in the new city, HR called me and said they had to take about $10k off my salary… for “equity reasons.” I was obviously frustrated with them and started arguing, so my boss emailed me and said “I understand if you don't want the job anymore. Just let me know soon if you still want it.” HR then told me I would get this money back pretty quickly in raises, since the “equity reasons” were mostly about me not having any prior experience in this field (I was just about to graduate with my Master's degree). The boss also told me that this job was prestigious, the hospital was prestigious, and it would be a worthwhile resume-booster. I still accepted the job, in good faith.
After it had been about a year, I told my boss I was ready for my raise now. He said it wasn't up to him, but that he gave me good marks on my performance, so I should email HR to get the raise. I did. They said, I would get the raise in the Fall like everybody else. I waited another 6 months. I got a 50 cents raise on an already very low salary. I complained, but it was explained to me that a raise was based on a percentage of the already-existing salary/hourly. So it would keep going up… Whatever. I let it go because the hours were super flexible. As in, I could take vacations whenever I wanted, paid, as long as I just answered a few emails or did a couple things here and there.
The boss never came to work. In the 2 and a half years I worked there, I saw him 2 times, for a cumulative 1 hour. Because he never came to work, no one else did, either. I did occasionally, mostly because I had to do a lot more work than was required of me because the other team members would disappear for months at a time.
Then, at the end of the year this last year, the entire company switched over to a new system. My boss's boss, the head of research there, I guess put me in the system as now a non-exempt employee, rather than being salaried. I told her this was a mistake, and she got really upset with me. So I emailed HR about it. They told me I am mistaken, and that I have always been non-exempt and have been clocking in and out. I sent them a copy of my last paystub and time card, both of which had “exempt” clearly written on it. They responded with, “where did you get that?” Lmao. Over the course of the next two weeks, I argued with them about this while my boss's boss kept getting more and more upset with me that she was having to put in my hours manually because I wasn't clocking in. After those two weeks, HR finally sent me the instructions and codes I needed to gain access to the site where I needed to clock in. (I could clock in with my badge at the site, but I worked from home, at odd hours, and for the time being, I was actually working at another hospital to complete MRIs). Anyway, I begged for accomodations to go to a system where I could enter my hours manually vs. having to punch in and out, and it was denied. My boss told me to clock in at the set time and out at the set time, no matter what hours I worked, because he couldn't afford to pay me overtime on the grant, but I did need to work overtime most weeks becaue of the odd hours. Every few weeks, I didn't clock out at the set times and my overtime was noted in the system, but the person in charge of time cards would email me, upset, and change it back to the set times. Once or twice, I did get a couple hours of overtime.
My boss did want me to get back to the exempt system, and was trying to support me there, but he was no match for HR. Apparently it was company policy that all research assistants needed to be on this time system. My boss told me that when I got a promotion, which would be soon, I would go back to being salaried and would get a nice raise, enough that I would get that money back I was originally offered. He said he would let me know when the position for this promotion, a research associate, popped up at the hospital for his lab. In the meantime, I worked really hard.
Months go by. I work my ass off and continually talk to my boss about my career goals. No promotion available yet. 2 of us on the time are doing the work of 3, because the 3rd member had completely disappeared for months. The boss is impressed by how fast we are getting things done.
The boss mentions that he is looking to hire another research assistant soon, and that job postings for it have gone out. Another few weeks go by. He says he found someone and they would start in another few weeks. Right before the new person is supposed to start, he casually mentions, “she has a lot of experience, so I'm going to go ahead and hire her as the research associate instead of assistant.”
I'm seeing red at this point. I call a private meeting with him. I lay out the details, and ask him if I have everything right. He just keeps saying, “she has more experience than you.” I say, “okay, so what's your timeline for me getting a promotion?” He says there is nothing in the foreseeable future open and nothing in the budget for a promotion. He says he doesn't even think he can rehire me when this project is over in a year, the budget is so low.
A few days later, I give my two weeks. He's shocked, lol. He tells me, “well we had to match her salary from her previous job, so really she's still a research assistant, just a research associate within the company to get that higher salary.” I mention I've only gotten a 50 cents raise in 2 and a half years, with no opportunity for promotion. He says that I should email HR again and give them reasons to convince them why I should have a promotion.
The new associate starts. She's…. got something wrong with her. She's definitely slow. I show her around and where everything is (the consent forms, pay cards, etc.). There really aren't many things physically around the lab, everything is mostly in the server. She said she's excited to start working. I get an email from the boss saying that this girl has emailed him multiple times the last few days saying that I never showed her where anything is, and because of this, she hasn't been able to start working yet. I get really assertive all of a sudden and explain to him that she's lying, I don't know why she's lying, but she is. I also mention that the first time I was supposed to show her around, she didn't fucking show up to the lab so after a few hours, my coworker and I went home. Later, my coworker and I also had a Zoom meeting with her to go over everything again. The boss believes me because I've never spoken poorly about a coworker the entire time I've been there, and says, “you guys need to tell me these things so I know what's happening, since I'm not there.” Well, genius, maybe you should fucking come to work.
He then tells me this is a world full of DEI initiatives and that I will not get anywhere in academia “as a Jewish woman.”
Okay, bud.
My last day was like two months ago, and that new girl is still texting and calling me, asking me where stuff is or what some readings mean.
I've been working at a university for a week now, and it's a fucking breath of fresh air. Everyone is in the office, for one.