Boss Refusing Pay Raise to Worker Earning $90,000 Sparks Fury

The internet has slammed a boss who denied a worker an overdue pay raise, as he mistakenly thought his employee was earning a six-figure salary, which they aren't.

In a post shared on Reddit, the employee explained that they are overdue for a work review and a pay raise, but their boss refused the pay raise and dismissed them, saying they should be happy they're paid a six-figure salary.

When really, according to the post, the employee earns $90,000, which they say is "not bad, but still not even in the 0.01 percentile that would qualify his statement."

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), which is the main professional body to accredit and award human resources qualifications, over four-fifths, 84 percent, of employers are planning a pay review in the coming months to December 2022.

Among these, around 4 in 10 expect their basic pay to increase, 7 percent expect a pay freeze, while just 1 percent expect a decrease.

The post, which was first shared on Tuesday on the r/atiwork subreddit, where 2,1 million "idlers" discuss work and jobs, has gone viral, receiving over 11,000 upvotes and 1,400 comments.

Most users told the poster to ask for the $10,000 more that their boss mistakenly thought he was making. One user, electrolytesaregood said: "You absolutely are due for a review and raise if your own boss thinks you're being paid at least [$10,000] more than you are."

WhydIJoinRedditAgain suggested: "A conversation on the order of 'Wait, you said I have a six figure salary. What do you think I make? Oh, you obviously think I produce enough to justify that salary. So I actually make [$90,000], but you're giving me a raise right now, right.'"

Another user, aerkith joked: "Maybe the boss is counting the dollar sign as the 6th." And On_Wings_Of_Pastrami added: "I actually bet he's considering benefits like insurance as part of it." OHAnon said: "Six figures? Thanks for the raise. Will that start on my next check?"

LogisticalNightmare suggested: "This is the answer. 'You mentioned the other day I make six figures, so I wanted to work with you on making that official (so I can have that elusive happiness you referred to.)' Don't say the part in parentheses. Haha."

Another user, Cairse wrote: "I would start off with rounding [$90,000]to [$100,000] is not a luxury that's afforded to you and that it must be nice to not worry about money to the point of writing [$10,000] off.

"Second, I would present some numbers on inflation and let him know that "[$100,000]" today is the same as [$80,000-85,000] five years ago. Tell him to bring you to [$100,000] as he thinks that's already what he was paying you AND apparently [$10,000] isn't worth keeping track of for him.

"Offering you anything less than [$100,000] is undervaluing you based on his own words. Use that against him. Sounds like you just got a [$10,000] raise to me."

And FloraoftheRift reflected on the actual value of money nowadays: "I remember back in highschool thinking [$45,000] was the ideal salary to live off. Now that I make [$45,000] I feel no less poor than the day I stepped out of high school.

"I dream about making [$90,000]. Something tells me if I ever hit a salary that's high like that it'll only be because the cost of living got so high that [$90,000] is the new poverty wage."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster.