Overcompensated
Tracie
8 Posts
How would you approach a situation where you have a very long term employee who is highly compensated but not doing much as far as work. Employee was originally on the fast track to being promoted to the top financial position as a controller but blew his chances when in 1999 he bailed out of the Y2K computer project. He was told at that time that would be the consequences and he accepted that. However, the Company kept him on as a Data Systems Manager in which he spends a good part of the day reading the Wall Street Journal, etc. and what's more he is not even discreet. The new controller that they hired is his supervisor and has taken the position that he knows that are some real problems with attitude but is insistent that he is doing what the job requires which is true to an extent. Because he was not doing what the Company intended the position to do they have hired on a fulltime network administrator and a programmer. The VP is livid and although they take full responsibility for perpetuating the problem, since my joining the Company last March, we are redoing our salary structure and are wanting to reduce his compensation to match the skill level that he is performing. I recommended that since he is in a protected age class, his reviews have been good, and he is an exempt employee that we can either eliminate his position with the introduction of the new salary structure and offer him a new position that would be available. However, it would not be compensated even close to the level he is currently at or we can present to him during his review (which is due now) of the new expectations and request the performance we are paying for. The general feeling is that he will thumb his nose at us, file for age discrimination, or
whatever else he can think of. Any ideas on how to handle this one? Our VP is concerned about the morale of the other 100 employees who work for him. How does his exempt status affect lowering his pay for another job?? I know that the last thing we want is the DOL/EEOC on our premises!
whatever else he can think of. Any ideas on how to handle this one? Our VP is concerned about the morale of the other 100 employees who work for him. How does his exempt status affect lowering his pay for another job?? I know that the last thing we want is the DOL/EEOC on our premises!
Comments
- What, exactly, are his assigned duties? Can you prove that he knows what they are?
- Is he doing all of his duties satisfactorily? If not, have you warned him and given him a chance to improve?
- Are there other duties that he's qualified to do that can be assigned to him?
Whatever your answers are, every manager involved in this situation should agree on them. You don't want to end up like the defendants in the case Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products:
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/national/discrimination.shtml[/url]
Also see the discussion on "Demotion Procedure":
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/employersforum/DCForumID14/442.html#[/url]
James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers
While the risk of discrim exists, it seems quite small cuz you should have a paper trail to showing how the duties have changed, the compensable factors of the job also changed and he was offered the opportunity to accept it. This is not uncommon in a down-turn economy, so he'll have a long line to stand in with his complaint. As long as his reace, age, sex, etc...is not a factor in your decision, I'd proceed with what you need to do.
Margaret Morford
theHRedge