temp agency knocked my rate back down, how to handle this?

[monkey00]

A couple weeks ago my contact at the agency bumped my hourly rate by $5. And since then my checks have reflected that. It wasnt mutually agreed upon nor did we talk about it. I was supposed to be happy to recieve this week's check in the mail, but to my dismay she knocked it down -$5 to my original rate.

 

I think she knew what she was doing, as last week and this week's temping is more solid throughout the week instead of a day here or there. I figure ill call her and talk about it next week, but how am i supposed to react if she refuses to bump it back it back up? or what should i say?

[amaysngrace]

So what are you saying? You had to pay back their raise? So you didn't get even what you would've normally gotten had they not given you the raise?

[Touche]

I can't believe they did that. As a former manager of a temp agency, I can tell you that this is not standard practice. Do you think it was done by mistake? Temps have the right to know what the rate is before they take an assignement. Did you change assignements? Because if you did and the rate was less, they had an obligation to inform you of that fact and to give you the option of taking (or leaving) the offer.

 

I think this was done by mistake. I can tell you from experience that payroll can get tricky with temps because of the different rates involved for different assignments. Talk to your contact. You have the advantage I feel because they always want to keep good people. And they obviously value you since they're offering you regular assignments.

 

Please let us know how this turns out and good luck. Don't worry though...I think it was probably an honest mistake. I can't tell you how many tmes I've done that by accident and had to print an employee another check to make up the difference.

[dropdeadlegs]

I agree with Touche. I think it was a mistake.

 

When it was dropped a few weeks ago were you informed beforehand?

 

When I did some temping every assignment had different pay rates, but only like 25-50 cents per hour.

 

I might do that temping thing again as soon as my kids are old enough to not require after school care (3-4 years.) I enjoyed not doing the same thing all of the time, and also having the option to work this week, or not. I didn't have benefits, but I don't have them now, either.

[dropdeadlegs]

A couple weeks ago my contact at the agency bumped my hourly rate by $5. And since then my checks have reflected that. It wasnt mutually agreed upon nor did we talk about it. I was supposed to be happy to recieve this week's check in the mail, but to my dismay she knocked it down -$5 to my original rate.

 

I think she knew what she was doing, as last week and this week's temping is more solid throughout the week instead of a day here or there. I figure ill call her and talk about it next week, but how am i supposed to react if she refuses to bump it back it back up? or what should i say?

Oh, I just reread your post and I think I misunderstood the first time. It may have been a mistake when you were bumped UP. I was thinking your pay had been decreased twice. $5 an hour seemed like a pretty big difference, but I have no idea what field you are in and many co.'s are using temp agencies these days. I was in clerical/customer service type work so my pay was pretty paltry, hence very small differences in pay between assignments.

[monkey00]

So what are you saying? You had to pay back their raise? So you didn't get even what you would've normally gotten had they not given you the raise?

 

Im getting my original rate as it was previously (without the raise).

 

Do you think it was done by mistake? Temps have the right to know what the rate is before they take an assignement. Did you change assignements? Because if you did and the rate was less, they had an obligation to inform you of that fact and to give you the option of taking (or leaving) the offer.

 

There is a chance it may have been a mistake, the receptionist usually mails out the checks but i dont know who actually punches the hours and numbers.

Normally I get placed on different assignments, but whatever the case the rate has always been consistent - and the companies i work at are the same types where i do the same work. No she didnt inform me of anything, my contact is a little unprofessional at times but she often does get me gigs.

 

Maybe she felt that $5 made a big difference and i was cutting into her pay?

After taxes..that $5 does make a huge difference to me anyway.

 

It may have been a mistake when you were bumped UP.

I think it could be too, but on my end i dont think it's professional or even ethical to drop my rate after giving me the raise.

[dropdeadlegs]

I think it could be too, but on my end i dont think it's professional or even ethical to drop my rate after giving me the raise.

That's where we disagree. It was unprofessional not to contact you if a mistake was made, and it would be unethical to make you pay back money that was given to you by mistake, but it could also be seen as unethical that you did not to bring it to their attention sooner. $5.00 an hour is a big percentage of a raise unless you are making huge money temping. I'm talking $40 or more per hour when I refer to big money.

 

I would have questioned it immediately, as it would have represented too big of an increase at my former pay rate.

 

I've never received a $5.00 increase in one raise at any time in my life. Why would I get one at a temp agency? The biggest single increase was 15% annually for me, and that didn't equal $5.00 per hour.

[Touche]

Believe me when I tell you that they didn't just give you a raise wthout talking to you. The pay "raise" may have been the mistake. How long have you been working for them?

[monkey00]

Believe me when I tell you that they didn't just give you a raise wthout talking to you. The pay "raise" may have been the mistake. How long have you been working for them?

 

Actually my contact said she would throw in an extra hour to my timesheet on an assignment i had 4 weeks ago, since the job was last minute.

 

Legally she cant bill her client for extra hours that wasnt worked, so i figure the next best thing she could do is bump my rate up - which was generous of her. The second check I received thereafter also reflected the raise in my rate. I've been with them for almost 8 months, which is what lead me to believe she permanently bumped my rate up because of that and I did quality work on my assignments.

[Touche]

Actually my contact said she would throw in an extra hour to my timesheet on an assignment i had 4 weeks ago, since the job was last minute.

 

Legally she cant bill her client for extra hours that wasnt worked, so i figure the next best thing she could do is bump my rate up - which was generous of her. The second check I received thereafter also reflected the raise in my rate. I've been with them for almost 8 months, which is what lead me to believe she permanently bumped my rate up because of that and I did quality work on my assignments.

 

But it doesn't work that way. This sounds like a mistake. They can't give you a raise without increasing the bill rate. And it's unlikely that they did that.

 

The profit margin is not all that great...workman's comp, insurance, taxes, etc. eat up a lot.

 

And again, they wouldn't just give you a raise without talking to you about it first. I mean they talked to you about paying you for ONE extra HOUR...so why wouldn't they talk to you about a raise?

[dropdeadlegs]

The profit margin isn't that big. I happened to handle the billing at one temp job. I saw that I was being paid $6.50 and the agency was billing for $9.75. It was a 66.66%/33.33% split. The agency has expenses for the pay of their actual employees, and their employees probably had benefits as they were full time employees. Touche mentioned other expenses.

 

I know it is disappointing, but I really think it was human error mistake and think it's awful that nobody contacted you to explain the situation, but I really can't see assuming that it was a pay raise. Be glad that you got a few weeks of top pay, it may have actually cost them to send you on the assignment(s.) There is probably something in your employment contract that allows them to recoup any overpayments to you, and they didn't do that. I've had those clauses in my employment paperwork before, it just never happened to me. I've never been overpaid. Just underpaid.

[Trialbyfire]

Raises are incentives to employees. There's no employer who would give away money without a discussion. I also think it was a mistake.

 

Best thing to do is to move on. Do not bring it up. They have the legal right to claw it back.

[monkey00]

Well I decided to call them up...guess what, thats right they made the error and are sending me another check to compensate the rate. this had better not happen againn...

[dropdeadlegs]

Well I decided to call them up...guess what, thats right they made the error and are sending me another check to compensate the rate. this had better not happen againn...

Well good for you!

[Trialbyfire]

Wow, so they actually bumped you by $5/hour? That's amazing. Congrats!

[stillafool]

Start shopping around for another agency.