I'm going to keep this as anonymous and vague as I can, because I really don't want to be doxxed.
For context, I'm a high school student in the US (North Carolina). I'm currently a senior, and I work as a math tutor. I've worked for a certain center for the past year. I'll call this center Old Space, or OS for short. I applied to work at a new place, which I will call NP for short.
I've worked at OS for over a year, without any hiccups or problems. I did take a two-month leave in summer because I was traveling, but that's about it. I've been working at the same rate ($12/hour) since I started. Recently, all our older tutors left for college, and we hired 4 new tutors at OS. They started working in August, and started at $12, just like I did. However, this past month, my boss gave everyone a raise from $12 to $14– except for me. I was not included in the meeting, and I was not sent the email stating that everyone would be getting a raise.
This feels incredibly unfair to me. How can I have worked 12 months more than all of these people, but still be earning less than them? It's not like I'm under qualified: I'm the only tutor who has taken calculus and can tutor calculus at OS. I also don't believe I'm a worse tutor than the rest of them: my students have been doing fabulously, and most of them have told me their grades have been improving. Is there anything I can do about this?
Another problem I had with OS was that I was never allowed to work more than 6 hours a week. Whenever I asked for more hours, I was told it was not possible. Because of this, I began applying to teach elsewhere. After finally passing through an interview, I was told I could start at NP. The problem is though, they want me to complete their “mandatory training” before I can start. The training is two 8-hour shifts on Saturdays, with a 30 minute lunch break. But they won't pay me for the training, which feels wrong. Are they allowed to make me come in-person for training for 15 hours and not pay me? NP said they will begin paying me after the training (at a lovely $15/hour), so I really do want to work there though (and I would really like to earn $225 from the training).
I'm still somewhat new to the whole having a job thing, so these topics are somewhat alien to me. I'm not sure where to ask these questions, but this feels like the right place. Any and all advice is appreciated!