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So I'm only 17, but I do a lot where I work. The hotel I'm at originally hired me to do bussing/hosting in the on-property restaurant. Well, about 2 months in, while I'm still 16, the Front Office Manager, who handles all of the check-in, rooms, and sales, took a liking to me, and started cross-training me at the front desk. The previous General Manager who was promoted to Vice-President of the parent company also made it very clear that he liked me, my personality, and especially my work ethic. So, I start working the front desk, and pretty soon the Front Office Manager would rather have me, a 16 year old, on the front desk than the people actually hired for it, and the VP wholeheartedly agrees. Pretty soon I'm not really working in the restaurant anymore, but now I'm basically a special activities employee; anytime somebody has a "project" they pass it on to me.

Well, the Front Office Manager was promoted to General Manager. Along with that, now I'm her de facto assistant. Now, this whole time I have 2 different salaries; in the restaurant I'm making 8.25, but when I do anything else it's 10. At first, I was more than happy to work for that rate; it's my first job. However, I feel like they've been taking advantage of me, especially since the new GM was promoted. Now, the VP has me running through the finance data for the hotel and wants me to work with the Director of Sales to optimize and modernize the new year marketing plan to present to upper-management and ownership. After that, he wants me to go through the balance sheets for the hotel itself and all the departments to analyze it and create visualizations using software like Tableau to find out why the hotel isn't operating on a relatively good profit margin. If the ownership likes it, he wants me to do the other 13 hotels in the parent companies portfolio (including teaching the GMs). I'm perfectly fine doing that, but I don't feel like it's fair that they would realistically hire somebody for 25-30$/hr to do that at minimum.

So, I was upfront with the general manager and basically said, "I think that I should see an increased compensation because my entire set of responsibilities has changed." Her response was neither up nor down. She seemed open to the idea but I guess I was wrong. When asked what I thought was fair, I lowballed at 20%, which would only be 12/hr. She said, "There's grown adults here making less than that." So I simply inquired, "So is it solely because of my age?" She was frank and said, "It's not not because of your age."

I understand that the hotel isn't operating on the best profit margin, but I don't think that it's fair to expect me to work a job that somebody would get paid almost 3x to do simply because I'm only 17. What would you suggest I do? What's the next move?

Edit: I'm actually planning on attending University of Chicago, and not for hospitality or finance, so I don't plan on being around the location (York,PA) or industry for more than a year. This is honestly just a job I never foresaw, and I do have a number of other academic and volunteer engagements, so I want to make sure that my work is actually worth my time.

Gianni HIll
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  • This question is too broad. Decide what you want first and then you can ask how to achieve it - we have no idea if you plan on going to college or want to stay at this job for the foreseeable future, for example. Location would be helpful, but long story short is that it's not usually illegal to discriminate against someone for being too young. – IllusiveBrian Jan 02 '18 at 04:28
  • @IllusiveBrian I'm actually planning on attending University of Chicago, and not for hospitality or finance, so I don't plant on being around the location (York,PA) or industry for more than a year. This is honestly just a job I never foresaw, and I do have a number of other academic and volunteer engagements, so I want to make sure that my work is actually worth my time. – Gianni HIll Jan 02 '18 at 04:39
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  • Yes, they can refuse to give you a raise for any reason. 2) What you're being asked to do now is "business analysis." Generally a lot more lucrative role. 3)What other people make is no concern of yours, higher or lower. 4) At your age, you may consider a title of "business analyst" worth more than a pay increase. Your call.
    • – Wesley Long Jan 02 '18 at 05:08
  • It is going to be difficult to answer a broad question like that. I think you should summarize the situation, it is too long. Your real question is how to negotiate your salary. Your manager is clearly a bad negotiator, it is going to be difficult to get a raise staying there. – Adam Smith Jan 02 '18 at 05:09
  • Paying you less because of your age if you're delivering the same quality of work they'd pay someone else more for doesn't make much sense (to me), but you don't really have a course of action here if your boss already declined a request for a raise. Although it sounds like you could've done a better job explaining why you deserve a raise - How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid? (if you wanted to bring up age, I would've suggested stating you're young and following it up with demonstrating your maturity). – Bernhard Barker Jan 02 '18 at 05:10
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    In the US it's not illegal to discriminate based on being too young, but it is illegal to discriminate based off of being too old (specifically over 40) – Egg Jan 02 '18 at 05:34
  • If you listen to the response it’s not discrimination based was n your age, but they are saying that they don’t have a higher paying position, and they are having trouble justifying paying you more based on your lack of formal training (education) and work experience. However, what you get out of it, is worth more then additional money. You have a great references at your disposal, and depending on your major, in theory could go back to the company in the future at a higher pay. Yes, while your lack of work experience is because of your age, it simply sounds like there isn’t a higher pay. – Donald Jan 02 '18 at 07:19
  • (The "age" comment was just an irrelevant offhand comment, it means nothing, like the guy was clearing his throat.) You face a huge life challenge here. You're obviously on your way to a successful life, but, the way you handle this will determine how you negotiate in the future. Good luck! – Fattie Jan 02 '18 at 12:00
  • This is actually an "XY" question, as they say. The specific reason they decide not to pay you a certain amount ...... is there business, and is totally irrelevant. (Note that it may be an actual reason, or, it may just be a rationale. *Make no difference at all, either way.*) The actual question here is "how to ask for a specific amount of money". The answer is always very simple: state the amount you want and if the answer is "No" then leave. – Fattie Jan 02 '18 at 14:40
  • Possible duplicate of How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid? – IDrinkandIKnowThings Jan 02 '18 at 15:02