Outrage as Woman Asks for a Rise, but Only Her Male Co-Worker Got It

A 25-year-old woman has shared her frustration online after learning that her male colleague was given a pay rise when she was told she could not have one.

Kimberly Nguyen, who lives in New York City, posted a Twitter thread about a workplace ordeal that had left her feeling underappreciated.

In the thread, she wrote: "My male coworker and I both asked for raises in 2022 and were told we'd be notified in April. In April, performance reviews were suspended indefinitely. I just found out my coworker still got his raise and was told not to tell so they could get away with not giving me mine." In the series of 12 tweets, Nguyen wrote how she has been trying to have her salary rectified for months.

"I've been attempting to get a salary adjustment since December," Nguyen told Newsweek. "But my employer keeps giving me the runaround. First, they said I needed to submit a performance review with testimonies from my managers. Both my colleague and I did that. They said they'd notify me in March. Then they said April. Then, in May, they told everyone performance reviews are suspended due to 'market conditions'. So I've been in a contentious battle with my employer about my pay for about 7 months now."

Working in UX [user experience] design, Nguyen did not want to name her employer, but was angered when she learned that her male colleague had been given the raise she was fighting for.

"I was incredibly enraged because we both asked for adjustments for non-performance-based reasons," she said. "He asked for his adjustment based upon relocation. I asked for mine based upon the fact the job that was originally advertised and the job I actually do are slightly different and require different skill sets."

After both being told to go through the performance-review process, her male colleague got his raise in April and was told to keep it a secret.

"I actually think the exact words were along the lines of 'if he talked about this increase with any of his other colleagues he could be reprimanded or terminated.' And they said that specifically to avoid having to pay out increases to other people," said Nguyen.

Women are still paid less than men overall, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). On average, men will earn around $1,219 per week, while women will earn $1,002.

In a 2023 blog post, Wendy Chun-Hoon, director of the U.S. DOL's Women's Bureau, wrote: "Women's labor is undervalued. Most of the disparity in women and men's pay cannot be explained by measurable differences between them. Out of the causes of the wage gap that we can measure, the main contributor is that women are more likely than men to work in low-paying jobs that offer fewer benefits.

"This inequity is even greater for Black and Hispanic women," Chun-Hoon added.

In June 2022, a woman explained how she lost all motivation after discovering that her salary was $30,000 lower than her co-worker. Meanwhile, a 2022 study by Harvard Business School revealed that gender equality in the workplace is advancing at a "glacial pace."

Since finding out that her male colleague is being paid more, Nguyen said she has tried to file a complaint of discrimination.

"The HR department called me and told me that they were not aware that anyone received a salary adjustment in April. They said that perhaps I was confusing bonuses with salary adjustments and perhaps he received a bonus instead of a base pay adjustment," she said. But, after talking to her colleague, he confirmed it was certainly a raise.

"They requested that I name my coworker to them so they could investigate, and he said he was uncomfortable with me naming him—especially because of the clause saying he might be reprimanded or terminated," said Nguyen. "They are now currently ghosting me, so I don't think there is a resolution in the works."

Frustrated with the lack of resolution to the pay discrepancy, Nguyen took to Twitter to share the story.

"I have found that, when I share things on social media, I often find that I'm not alone, and I think that things like this can feel like an isolating experience," Nguyen said. "I think employers want you to feel isolated and that no one is on your side, and I think that's one of the reasons they're primarily against unions.

"Conversations around pay, worker conditions, benefits—they are all conversations I don't think we're having enough," she added. "We're still clearly a long way away from equity, but I think these conversations are the start."

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