TLDR: My director offered me a “promotion” about a month after I got hired to take over my position for the entire department. My supervisor just told me there was never a promotion. I used PTO 2 days last week to process that info and now he’s trying to punish me for it.
I basically work as a life skills coach for a young adults (YA) in an extended foster care group home. When I started at the company, everyone in my position was scattered between working with minors and the YA. About a month after I started, my director reached out to me to see if I was interested in a promotion. He explained that I would be the only one in my position working with YA, and I’d take on some of his admin work. Because of this dynamic, I’d be taking on a new position. I agreed and asked if there would be a salary increase. HR did offer me a salary increase, but it was very small (2k a year to be exact).
In a meeting with my supervisor last week, I said something along the lines of, “Ever since I got my promotion, I feel like they only selectively give me a say in things when it’s convenient,” to which she replied, “What promotion?” And then proceeded to explain that my position never changed at all and the salary increase was to compensate for the immense difference in job responsibilities between me and my peers in this role… my director, however, emphasized repeatedly that it was a PROMOTION to a new role.
Looking back, a promotion 1 month in should’ve been a red flag, as should the joke of a raise I got, but I still feel so angry how he manipulated me.
My peers in this role make their own schedules, have the option to work remote whenever they please, and they create all of their own goals and work tasks (with the minor oversight of a supervisor). I, however, have a set schedule of when I am expected to be on campus, have my own goals and tasks, and I manage all of their EBT benefits, schedule a lot of their doctors appointments, and frequently provide transportation to said appointments… for ADULTS. That are fully capable of doing this stuff themselves, but my boss refuses to allow me to teach them because he wants us to be responsible for it, but he doesn’t do any of this stuff!
I was so shocked last week that I called in sick Wednesday and asked to work from home on Thursday. My director said, “I’ll take care of it.” And requested full days off for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (which I was fully planning on working). I didn’t want the conflict, and I had the PTO available, so I let it go.
Flash forward to this morning, the man calls me an hour before I’m supposed to even start my work day (at home, btw) to tell me that I needed to get up right then and drive a YA to their school that’s 30 minutes away because I forgot to schedule the ride on Friday… the Friday he decided I wasn’t working, so I didn’t. The kicker? There was already a staff member present on campus that was more than willing to take them, my director just wanted to punish me.
I have no idea how to navigate this situation. All the jobs in my field (social work) pay garbage despite requiring a bachelors degree, but I don’t see this being very sustainable.
Oh also, the company hierarchy is based primarily on personal relationships with the CEO (small company), so even if I did make a complaint, it would only make things worse.