HR director with no experience
Mildon
4 Posts
Many of you seem topical intelligent and I'm wondering if I could get your views on this matter.
I work for a company which has an HR director in place who, quite literally, has no prior experience in human resources. My company employs people in an entry-level position, then promotes from within (with a few exceptions). Thus, our HR director was promoted from within the ranks and now leads the human resources activities for a company that has grown recently to over 200 people. There are many problems that this person cannot seem to handle, but there's one issue that has come about recently that I'm concerned about now.
A co-worker and friend is fluent in a foreign language and is one of only a handful of people employed to work with our clients abroad. Next to her sits another person who is fluent in the same language, but not as fluent as my friend. Consequently, my friend gets the majority of the work to be done in that language.
Several weeks ago, in a casual conversation, my friend learned that she's being paid over 10 percent less than the person who sits next to her, even though she's more responsibility. Both started at about the same time at the company, but my friends language ability has won the praise of our clients abroad. However, she is being compensated significantly less.
After discovering this discrepency, my friend went to the HR director. The HR director refused to hear her case, and called my friend unprofessional for even breaching the subject. My friend was upset, to say the least.
Is there any clause in the law that says that two people doing the same work should be making the same amount of money (in the State of Wisconsin)? Given that this HR director has no experience at all, is there any action that can be taken without going to a lawyer? Any feedback would be appreciated!
I work for a company which has an HR director in place who, quite literally, has no prior experience in human resources. My company employs people in an entry-level position, then promotes from within (with a few exceptions). Thus, our HR director was promoted from within the ranks and now leads the human resources activities for a company that has grown recently to over 200 people. There are many problems that this person cannot seem to handle, but there's one issue that has come about recently that I'm concerned about now.
A co-worker and friend is fluent in a foreign language and is one of only a handful of people employed to work with our clients abroad. Next to her sits another person who is fluent in the same language, but not as fluent as my friend. Consequently, my friend gets the majority of the work to be done in that language.
Several weeks ago, in a casual conversation, my friend learned that she's being paid over 10 percent less than the person who sits next to her, even though she's more responsibility. Both started at about the same time at the company, but my friends language ability has won the praise of our clients abroad. However, she is being compensated significantly less.
After discovering this discrepency, my friend went to the HR director. The HR director refused to hear her case, and called my friend unprofessional for even breaching the subject. My friend was upset, to say the least.
Is there any clause in the law that says that two people doing the same work should be making the same amount of money (in the State of Wisconsin)? Given that this HR director has no experience at all, is there any action that can be taken without going to a lawyer? Any feedback would be appreciated!
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