Background
I was hired as an administrative assistant for a therapy practice. It was $18 at contract, meaning I would have to budget for my taxes, insurance, etc.
I was in that position for a couple months and one of the Directors quit so my boss asked me to go full time, promote me to Director of Operations, and she would bump my pay up to $20/hour. Still a contract, not W2.
I am currently getting my Masters in Clinical Mental Health so this admin experience at a therapy practice looks really good on my resume and I decided to stick it out.
A little more background
It's been months of being at $20 an hour. I've asked about raises periodically and my boss said she just can't do it. The business does not make enough money to pay that.
My boss hired her daughter for a while to help with the business function, though I am not sure if she paid her daughter. Her daughter suggested hiring her friend, let's call her Shart, to do social media.
Current shitshow
There's been some business changes and my boss emails me and other members of the leadership team an Excel spreadsheet of expenses. She wants to get our insight on costs of the business.
Listed on this spreadsheet (that was supposed to just be costs) was “Shart : $4,900”
Let me tell you, when I saw this I wanted to scream. How could the social media manager make almost $5,000 a month when we have clinical supervisors with Masters degrees that barely make $3,000 a month? And there are therapists with the practice that makes about $1,000 per month.
I replied to the email asking what this $4,900 was, trying to play it cool like I was just trying to read the spreadsheet. But we all knew that was Shart's monthly income.
My boss snapped back that it is “unethical to discuss salaries.” I had to point out that SHE was the one that sent the spreadsheet and wrote the salary on the spreadsheet.
I think it's much more unethical to hire your daughter's friend and pay them significantly more than other employees.