(California) I work at a chain coffee shop (not sbux) and have been a shift lead there for 4 years. My coworker (another lead) and I recently found out that the 2 newly hired leads started at a higher rate than us. Our pay rate was $17.65 and $17.85 while the new leads started at $18. Its also interesting that the 2 leads were brought in from our new manager’s previous job. We were obviously upset since we have been with company longer and have more responsibilities amongst the leadership team. We brought this to the attention of our store manager and district manager and he, (DM), said he would talk to the regional manager and try to get us to a higher pay but couldn’t guarantee anything. Cut to a few days ago and my DM texted me saying he couldn’t give me and off-cycle pay increase at this time but had reached out to my manager to offer advice on how to reach an “outstanding level” at the next performance review. Meanwhile, he called my coworker and was able to get them to $18.50. Once again I was upset. My coworker was only recently promoted to a shift lead approximately 2 years ago. I had a conversation with HR about the logic behind it and they told me they hire in people and pay higher based on experience. While I understand that, the fact of the matter is I am undervalued, underpaid, and overworked and for them to tell me they can’t offer me any increase, not even to get me to $18 is a blatant slap to my face. I feel like talking to them again doesn’t do anything and I don’t want to look for another job minimum wage job because I’m almost finished with school. I’m basically going to act my wage but I also don’t want to stop fighting to get an increase.