So I have been a merchandising employee with a national merchandising company for over three years. I frequently get requested for grocery store resets from various grocery wholesale suppliers in charge of the resets. They specifically ask for me by name. A few months ago I was working with a new employee for my company, a 19-year-old girl who had no merchandising experience. In fact, her only other job she has had was as a cashier at a drug store. She had no training or qualifications, so I was explaining to her what a POG is, how to sort tags and read codes/UPCs, how to left justify her tags, get packout for a shelf, etc. She starts talking about how glad she is to be hired at a higher wage than she made as a cashier, and then tells me what our company hired her at, which is $1 more per hour than I am making as an experienced merchandiser who has been working for them for over three years! So this happened in February. I emailed my supervisor for a pay raise that day and am referred to my supervisor's boss. I email her a few times and call before she finally responds and tells me, yes I will be given a raise. No mention of how much or when. Several weeks go by, no raise, and I email again and get the same runaround. So a few weeks ago I worked with yet another young person who got hired with little-to-no experience. This young man also volunteers his starting pay, which is $1 higher than my existing wage. I send emails to my supervisors, and get told the paperwork has been submitted, blah blah blah. As of this past Friday's paycheck, my raise has still not gone through. I emailed my supervisors about it Friday morning before leaving for a grocery store reset. Neither of them have bothered to reply. This morning, I texted four other experienced merchandisers in my area who I have worked with in the past and turns out we are all making about the same pay. What else do we have in common other than that we are making less money than the new people and we are all experienced, dependable employees who have been working for our company for several years? We are all in between 40 to 65 years old, that's what. The people who are getting hired in who have no degrees, qualifications, or experience are all in their 20s. Does anyone hear think this might be an age discrimination case?

Quit and when the position opens up again just demand a higher wage. I went from 11.50 to 12.75 within a year.

Good Lord, you are doing grocery resets and apparently are good at them or you would not be requested by name! You are gold for a merchandising company! Throw a few applications in with other companies that do regular reset/ remodel work and see what they have to offer. It may be time to go where you will be appreciated and more importantly, paid better.
If the area that you live in has a state Dept. of Aging or a discrimination board, it may well worth your time to ask questions and fill out the forms. Seem like too much of a coincidence of all the mature workers being paid less than the 20's

Thank you, Cindy. I am only 54 years old and in pretty good physical shape. I can't run a marathon but I can easily lift and set 22-inch shelves, unload boxes from pallets, bend, squat, and stand on my feet for 8-10 hours a day, only taking a few short breaks to grab a snack, beverage, or restroom break--and I rarely need any direction. That's one thing I know that the grocery leads love about me, is I just come in, assess where I am needed, and start working. These new ninnies stand around and wait for someone to notice they aren't doing anything to give them direction or else they'd be standing around texting on their phones all day. It's a bad reflection on our company, but upper management has no idea what's going on because they aren't in the field to see it. I am going to make some phone calls after work on Monday. I think I want to check HR with my company before putting in applications with other companies. I really like the reputation I have built with the wholesale grocery team leads and need to make sure whatever company I go to can get me assigned to the stores that I do the most work in. Maybe I can get HR to get my raise pushed through, and then help the other people in my company get around this as well. If not, I think I will get in touch with a lawyer. I know at least one other company I can go work for that is represented in my stores, but the problem is that they don't allow their employees to ever get full-time hours, and my company doesn't like to but will occasionally let us go 40+ hours a week. And Dave, I thought about that, but what if they are trying to phase all of us older employees out? I might very well not get hired back if I quit. I am considering my options and am open to all ideas. Thank you everyone.

It would be hard to prove that it is age discrimination. The company would say that you were hired several years ago when the job market was very different than it is now, so they were able to hire you at a lower wage than what people coming into the market now are getting because the job market is stronger now.

Your best leverage is your longevity with this company and the fact that you are training their new hires for free. To ask for the same salary as the folks you are training is certainly reasonable. Your boss promised you a higher wage and you have that promise in writing. Keep inquiring after it. Remind them that it will cost the company much more to hire an experienced merchandiser (in a stronger job market) who is also willing to train the new hires than giving you a raise that just puts you on par with the new hires.

If you don't get the raise, then there might be a good case for age discrimination. Check the EEOC website.

Good luck. Keep us informed.

Right Chris, I certainly thought about that, but it's been over two months since I was promised this raise and it still hasn't happened...so makes me very suspicious about the reasoning. At least I do have it in writing, but getting them to fulfill the promise has been unsuccessful. How long should I wait to not get a raise before I contact a lawyer? The other older merchandisers are also disgruntled and have agreed to band together with me in whatever action we have to take, so hoping it doesn't take a lawsuit to get my company to pay us what we deserve. Several of the others are a bit fearful of not getting hired elsewhere, especially the guy in his 60s...

JASFLALMT
I can't imagine the position your in about pay. Could you go sit with this company instead of email or phone?

I owned a business retail and wholesale for 25 years. I had many employees on a seasonal basis. I paid them more per hour because I could not pay health insurance. They worked on a 1099. In 1978 I paid my workers $10 an hour and a large bonus at the end of the work. My managers were being paid $25 an hour in 1980s.
My point is to tell the company how valuable you are and that it is in insult to you and hope that they will increase your pay or you will have to look elsewhere. Don't be afraid that they will let you go, stand up for yourself. Do this in a professional way, by stating what you do like about the company and would hate have to leave.

No, it's a national company and I have only met my immediate supervisor a few times. He works from home and lives nearly 3 hours away, and he himself is constantly in the field doing merchandising work in other parts of our state. The problem is he is worried about keeping his job (I think) so he doesn't like to make waves, and so won't on my behalf. At least that's what I think--he just recently got this promotion and my previous supervisor got the axe. His supervisor lives in another state, and so on up the chain. The company headquarters are in CA. And thanks, I have stated my value to them in email and will again. I have told them that there are other companies out there who would find me an asset and that I was considering looking elsewhere, and that's when they agreed to give me the raise. The problem is that it hasn't happened. I also have asked the regional marketing director from one of the wholesale grocers to write my supervisors an email informing them of his opinion of my work ethic and how invaluable of an asset I am to the reset team. I just sent that out to him this afternoon, and I know on Monday he will do it because he won't want to lose me and if I go to another company he might not get to have me on his resets anymore (or not as frequently if I go the other company that will only give me part time hours). I will keep trying. And honestly, the only thing I really like about our company is the 40 hour week thing and also the other older employees that I get the pleasure of working with from time to time. Not many companies out there do the 40 hour work week thing anymore. I will have to really think hard about what else I like about our company so I can stroke some egos--if that will help.

JASFLALMT I guess your doing the best that you can. It really bothers me that companies treat their employees this way. Not that it matters, but I am 71 years old and still an asset to many companies. I get calls and bonuses frequently. I am reliable, honest and have integrity.

I use to get paid by the job, the kids and other misfits could not follow basic schematics. Leading a crew making $300 for ten hours or $350 for 12 hours were the good old days. Age discrimination is alive and well, they don't see the beautiful mind or your experience, instead they think your old and can't deliver. One of my friends is still doing Store Resets making $48,000 a year working for one of the big companies. Those jobs are almost gone, Costco's Road Shops depending on the company your hired on with pay good. Sorry about the age discrimination, companies complain how younger employees are not willing to learn yet they ignore a massive pool of great talent. Their afraid of hiring someone with gray hair, how screwed up is that?

Here is the official act on age discrimination.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA")
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA") makes it unlawful for employers
to fail or refuse to hire, to discharge, limit, segregate or classify protected employees, or
otherwise discriminate against them with respect to their compensation, terms, conditions
or privileges of employment because of their age. The ADEA protects employees who
are at least 40 years old and applies to all employers with 20 or more employees
employed in an industry affecting commerce. There are limited exceptions to the ADEA
where age is a "bona fide occupational qualification" necessary to the particular business,
or where the differentiation is based on reasonable factors other than age. Employees may
file charges of discrimination with the EEOC, which enforces the ADEA. The employee
or the EEOC may then sue in federal court for damages and other relief. Remedies under
the ADEA include reinstatement or front pay, back pay, liquidated damages, and
attorneys’ fees.

JASFLALMT, I sympathize with you. You might want to think some more about what outcome would be in your best interest. Filing a lawsuit is mentally and physically draining. And it would go on for years. Would it be worth the stress and expense? As upset as you are now, and rightfully so, you are still emotionally attached to the company--you always refer to it as "our company."

Working for this company has its advantages for you, so my guess is that you will be happier if you can straighten out this stalemate yourself. Make that Plan A. You obviously have strong interpersonal skills because of the rapports you've built with clients and colleagues.

Since this is a large company, there should be an HR person in the home office. Let the boss and supervisor know that you will follow up with HR so they needn't take the time from their busy schedules. Then contact HR. If HR knows nothing about the raise, then you have your paper trail. Do let HR know that you are expected to train the new hires and have done so cheerfully all along. Ask for the raise to be retroactive. Ask for a $2 raise and there'll be no hard feelings.

One of the Shops I perform when there's a bonus is shopping for groceries because their base pay is too low. Yesterday ran inside to grab a few packages of meat on sale, a man in his early seventies got promoted to front-end supervisor after bagging groceries for one month! There's twenty courtesy clerks and he bypassed them all because he did not call in sick, did not play on his cell phone or get caught texting. Finally someone got caught using their brain by hiring a talented man, thank God people still have brains!

My husband, the ever voice of reasoning, just got home from a long day. He suggested offering my services to said companies as an employee "ad litem" so that's another idea.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2016 12:00AM by JASFLALMT.

I would like to share that a Kohl's manager once told me, "I probably shouldn't say this, but if you aren't over 50, I'm not hiring you." Too many problems with younger ones not showing up, not working, etc.

Here's my two cents:
Get the email addresses of these other experienced merchandisers who are paid the same. Send another email to your boss about your raise, and let him know you will take this to HR next if he doesn't deliver on this raise ASAP.
If he doesn't, go to HR. CC the other older employees. Let HR know what's been going on and that you can't help but notice there are several over 40 workers getting paid less than the new 20-somethings. Tell him this seems like age discrimination to you, and again ask that your raise that you were promised be put into place ASAP. Also forward him the email promising the raise.
It should be enough to put HR in action. Raises cost less than lawsuits. And for the record, once you have complained mentioning discrimination to HR, they are highly unlikely to fire you, since that would be considered retaliation.
This is advice I got from my father, who's been a high-level HR exec for all of his professional life, when I faced a similar situation working for Verizon. It worked like a charm. No lawyer required!

It's sound advice and follows with my plan, thank you. I have the phone numbers and some of the email addresses of the other employees, and we have been talking about it over the weekend. I am contacting HR tomorrow and also calling my supervisor's supervisor since neither of them will respond to my emails.

Please keep us posted on your progress. It may be a lesson on how to challenge an ageism situation and win. I am sure there are more than a few older workers here. Good luck

So I tried to contact my supervisor's supervisor today by phone on my break since she didn't answer my email on Friday. Her voicemail box was full. I was working today in the field...the store manager told me that he requested me for the rest of the week and had no trouble in getting a response from my immediate supervisor to place me on the schedule (I of course did not explain my problems to him). But, I just ended up working all day and by the time I got off it was too late to contact HR. I will try again within the next few days.

I guess I would question whether or not you want to stay with that company? If so, I would still pursue another job, get an offer in hand that is more than what your current company is offering and tell them about it!
Let them know that you have been offered a similar or better job at more per hour. Advise them that you do enjoy your current job and if there was any way that they could offer you at least the same that you would consider staying with them.
You have to play the game. I have received raises from companies that others say are not giving raises. They don't value you as much if you are in place and they don't think you will leave - they don't see the incentive to offer you more $$. Give them a reason to offer match or beat another offer in order to keep your experience with them.
Good Luck
*** And do I think it has to do with your age? No, I just think it is the practice of being lazy with current employees and it costing them more money to attract new employees.

Update: I got my raise, and its much more than what the new hires are making. But I had to contact someone higher up in the company.

Congratulations.

Congratulations! Glad it all worked out.

Me too, thanks to all of you for ideas, suggestions, and support. I am really glad I got to stay with this company since many of the other companies out there don't allow for 40 hours and overtime, while that is one wonderful thing about the company that I work for. Have a great night/rest of your week