You work for a semi-small, husband and wife owned company, less than 100 employees. You have been there 10 years and have worked yourself into the #1 employee in salary, commissions, length of employment and you basically run the entire operation as the owners sit on the sidelines and watch.

A problem situation arises... There is a snafu in the email that sends out payroll stubs. Every employee gets their own payroll stub in an email, however, this week, the software program that distributes the email screws up and includes a second attachment to everyone's email.

That second attachment that everyone gets is YOUR payroll stub! Everyone in the company now knows:
a. what you make each week
b. your commissions
c. your year-to-date pay.

There is no way for the email software program to retrieve the emails. Once they are sent, they are sent for good.

Except for the owners, you make more, and in many cases much more, than all the other employees. One good thing is that NO identity information was included (SS number, bank acc't, etc.) on the attachment, except for your name.

You deal with virtually every employee on a daily basis. Many of them have already mentioned to you that they received the second attachment in their email.

This actually happened recently to someone I know. My recommendation at the time was:

1. Have the owners send out an immediate email to all employees that includes:
a. An apology to you for compromising your personal and professional privacy
b. Acknowledgment that you are the company's #1 employee through your hard work
c. An apology to all the employees for putting them in the uncomfortable situation of knowing that they could be the next employee whose financial statement could be disclosed to everyone
d. Assurance to all the employees that the company is working on the problem to ensure that it does not happen again (and which they damn well better make sure doesn't happen)

2. Fire the deadbeat manager who, by his totally inept management skills (and who the owners hired over your objections), created the situation that led to the computer software snafu. This person is a real loser and has been a huge drag on you and the company... you have had to prod him to do his job, solve and cleanup his mistakes (some of which have lost clients for the company), finish his jobs, and basically be his babysitter while the owner denies that he is a detriment to the company.

3. Send you on an all expensed paid Cancun vacation for at least a week.

What would you do if you were this #1 employee and this was your situation and your pay stub was seen by everyone in the company? Seek legal counsel?

Not give a shit because I was making more than everyone else!

Nope I would stand up and yell that's right bitches I'm #1, I'm rich beeotch!!

My pay can be seen by anyone with an internet connection that knows my name, where I work and the name of the entity with the free database of salaries. BFD!

Fab - lol!

I suggested to the person involved to try to stay above the situation. If anyone says anything, apologize that it happened and say that you're glad it happened to you and that they were not the one put in the situation that you are in.

Nail the wife.

Do you think other employees will resent you now? I ask you this because I work in a unit of 7, I am the senior worker and also the highest paid. They all know that but it comes with not only hard work but tenure, you can only get so much of a raise a year so because I've been her so long they would need to blow the doors off as well as work a few more years before they could even come close to catching me. I don't feel any resent me here!

if you are the top employee for the reasons you mentioned, your pay should be higher than everyone else's. if i was working there and that happend and i saw your paycheck, i wouldnt think twice about it. but then again, i have worked jobs where everyone's pay is public knowledge anyway. other than curb stomping the manager who screwed up(maybe not firing him yet, but atleast building a case to the owners since they seem to like him for some reason) i wouldnt worry about anything.

Fab1b;455481 wrote:Do you think other employees will resent you now? I ask you this because I work in a unit of 7, I am the senior worker and also the highest paid. They all know that but it comes with not only hard work but tenure, you can only get so much of a raise a year so because I've been her so long they would need to blow the doors off as well as work a few more years before they could even come close to catching me. I don't feel any resent me here!

Seriously Fab, it's not me, just someone I know. But yes, I guess there is a certain amount of angst felt since there is such a close relationship between employees in the company. Knowing what the lead manager (#1 employee) makes could really create some strife and mess with the cohesiveness of the entire team of workers. Comes down to jealousy and resentment I guess. If played correctly, the whole thing could be played by the owners as an incentive thing to show what the others could be making if they freaking busted their ass like my friend has been doing for 10 years.

Apple;455585 wrote:Seriously Fab, it's not me, just someone I know. But yes, I guess there is a certain amount of angst felt since there is such a close relationship between employees in the company. Knowing what the lead manager (#1 employee) makes could really create some strife and mess with the cohesiveness of the entire team of workers. Comes down to jealousy and resentment I guess. If played correctly, the whole thing could be played by the owners as an incentive thing to show what the others could be making if they freaking busted their ass like my friend has been doing for 10 years.

Very true, I guess it all lies in how the owners decide to handle it!