I'm More Qualified Than My Co-Workers But They Earn More—What Should I Do?

Dear Newsweek, I am an instructional assistant level 1 at an elementary school, and this is my second school term in this position. I have a master's degree in management. I work alongside two other instructional assistants that don't have any degree, yet I am paid $12.00 hourly for both school years.

We are not allowed to discuss our salaries, and we can be terminated for speaking to each other about salary. My principal told me I was getting a raise, but I'm still making the same wages as the last school year, so it's not true.

I signed a contract for this new school year again believing I would be paid more. My wages and education are more than qualified for a higher pay, but I'm stuck in this contract that will fine me $2,000-4,000 if I quit working at the school.

This is not a livable wage with the cost of living increasing. I'm not making enough to survive life's hardships. I'm at the point [where] I need to make a change in jobs for a higher salary, but I'm stagnated here at this point.

Please send me advice, the school will not raise my pay without an education degree. I feel betrayed because I have a higher degree than most employees, but I am being paid at the bottom of their pay school.

Danita, Ohio

If You Have Been Promised A Wage Increase, That Is A Verbal Agreement

Dennis J. Alessi, is a partner and co-chair of the Labor and Employment practice at Mandelbaum Barrett PC, a law firm based in Roseland, N.J.

If you are in a category of employee that is protected from discrimination in employment, for example, based on race, disability, sex, national origin, and the like, and the other employees, who are being paid more than you, are not in your protected class of employee, then a differentiation in salary may violate your state and federal laws which prohibit discrimination in employment. if this is not the situation, then, while it may be very poor human resource management to pay you less than your coworkers who do not have the same education credentials that you have, it is probably not illegal to do so.

I am assuming that you work in a public school and not a private school. If you work in a private school, then, under the National Labor Relations Act you have a legal right to discuss salaries with your other employees, and the NLRA protects against loss of employment if you are terminated because you did discuss salaries with your co-workers. If you are in a public school, I seriously doubt that you can be so prohibited because public employees do not lose their free speech rights just because they are public employees. And, as a teacher in a public school, discussing your salary with your coworkers is a free speech right.

If your principal promised you a wage increase, that is a verbal agreement which may be enforceable. However, if you signed a written contract which does not include the salary increase, then the contract language would probably control over any verbal promise. As a general proposition, you are bound by the terms of the written agreement you signed, notwithstanding what the principal said to you about a wage increase.

Regarding the $2,000-$4,000 fine, whether or not this fine is enforceable depends on when you quit. If you leave the school at the end of the term of your contract, at the end of the school year, I seriously doubt that this penalty could be enforced. If you leave during the school year, and break your contract in doing so, then it is possible that this fine could be enforced; provided the school district could establish that your quitting in the middle of the contract year was in violation of your contract, and caused the school the $2,000 to $4,000 worth of damages.

For example, if the cost of hiring a temp or substitute teacher to replace you costs the school district $2,000 to $4,000 more than the amount you would have been paid had you not quit in mid-year.

You Are Allowed To Discuss Pay With Co-Workers After Work Hours

Jon Bell is an employment attorney with Bell Law Group, PLLC.

You need to seek advice and guidance from a local Ohio employment lawyer as there are State and Local Laws in effect as well.

However, Federally, there is a law in place that employees' right to discuss their salary is protected by law. Employers may restrict workers from discussing their salary during work hours, however, an employer cannot prohibit employees from discussing pay while not on work hours and off the employer's premises. This speech is protected by the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act).

As far as the penalty is concerned, you need a local lawyer to give an opinion on that.