Ask Me Help Desk - Hourly, salaried and working terms

Hello, My question is simply this. I am a salaried person at a church. When after almost three years they finally offered me a raise of $50 a month more. They decided that I needed to work another hour. When I put the math to what they were purposing I found I was losing about $1.44 per hour from what I was making with the extra 16 hours a month. Then they decided that I needed to write in on a time card what I was doing minute by minute. And proceeded to put down things like getting permission before someone can help me with the newsletter or, well there are several restrictions. They do not understand what a salaried and hourly person is. Can you give me some advice on what to say to them? My accountant said that in all essence they should leave my hours alone and the raise would be a raise. I have worked here three years now and have worked many days 6 to 8 hours many days, because members come in when I am leaving and want something or the pastor needed some letters typed at the last minute. I have never complained and now when I ask for a raise they want to put stipulations on me. When I came I only wanted to work 1/2 day, then is was 4 or 5 hours and now 6. This is a very small church and three to four hours is all that is needed. Some days I have nothing to do, so I read. Anyway it gets more involved and that is not as important as the above mentioned. The rules they wrote down involve an hourly person, not a salaried. I have gone way above the call of my job and gave to everything they were raising money for or food for baskets. What should I do? How should I approach this to make 70 year old men understand?

I think maybe looking for another job may be best.
Seems to me they want to get as much as they can for as little as possible. Tell them you agreed to do the work not make it a full time career.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Susie Hughey

Hello, My question is simply this. I am a salaried person at a church. when after almost three years they finally offered me a raise of $50 a month more. They decided that I needed to work another hour. When I put the math to what they were purposing I found I was losing about $1.44 per hour from what I was making with the extra 16 hours a month. Then they decided that I needed to write in on a time card what I was doing minute by minute. and proceeded to put down things like getting permission before someone can help me with the newsletter or, well there are several restrictions. They do not understand what a salaried and hourly person is. Can you give me some advice on what to say to them? My accountant said that in all essence they should leave my hours alone and the raise would be a raise. I have worked here three years now and have worked many days 6 to 8 hours many days, because members come in when I am leaving and want something or the pastor needed some letters typed at the last minute. I have never complained and now when I ask for a raise they want to put stipulations on me. When I came I only wanted to work 1/2 day, then is was 4 or 5 hours and now 6. This is a very small church and three to four hours is all that is needed. Some days I have nothing to do, so I read. Anyway it gets more involved and that is not as important as the above mentioned. The rules they wrote down involve an hourly person, not a salaried. I have gone way above the call of my job and gave to everthing they were raising money for or food for baskets. What should I do? How should I approach this to make 70 year old men understand?

I would be very, very careful because it's employment at will. At any rate, if you don't have enough to keep yourself busy I would think the hour by hour records of what you are doing would prove that and that would be the end of the requirement for the extra hour(s).

I'd ask your accountant to put it in writing and give it to them. That will carry more weight than anything you have to say.

Yeah it doesn't make sense to make you work more hours if you can do some of the things during the hours you have nothing to do.
If you have chunks of time where you have nothing to do and they happen to be the same hours every week I would be questioning them on the purpose of being there those hours or asking them why they can't cut your hours and let you do the things you could be doing during the time you have nothing to do.
Basically work out a feasible schedule where you can be more productive with less hours. Then if they still don't want to pay you right tell them you would rather go to hourly and figure out what you want to make an hour.