Hey all, I saw some good posts about labor/wage laws here in the past and was hoping someone could help me out. I'm not sure if my situation is legally allowed or not, I assume it is since I'm in a right-to-work state with nearly no worker protections but maybe I'm wrong.
Context: I work at an entry level job for a company in Tennessee, USA. At the time that I started, the minimum wage the company paid was $16/hr. This is what I have been earning. I received a write-up for too many tardies a few months back (guilty as charged, I didn't have any good excuse for being late as much as I was). I determined to do better and haven't been late since. It was the only write-up I've had and otherwise I'm performing my duties just fine.
Last month it was announced that the company was raising the company's minimum wage to $17/hr and that it would be effective immediately that all hourly workers would get a $1/hr raise. Come payday, I noticed on my paystub that I didn't get the raise. When I asked my manager about it, they looked into it and were told by HR that because I had a write-up I was not eligible to get the raise, even though the raise was supposed to be for all hourly workers and was otherwise not related to my personal job performance. HR pointed to some legal document that stated the company had the right to withhold any raises for anyone that had any disciplinary action within the past 6 months. HR said once it was 6 months past the date of my write-up they could “review it again to potentially increase (my) pay.”
This seems off to me. If it were that I was denied a raise because of my own shortcomings I'd understand, but “everyone gets this except you” doesn't seem right. Not to mention their wording of 'potentially' implies they could continue withholding it from me. Is this common? More importantly is it legal?
Thanks for your help.