Client’s No Baby-Sitter for Home Businesswoman

Question: I recently did business with a woman who runs a small company out of her home. Her school-age children were home on vacation, and they kept interrupting to have snacks fixed, shoes tied and fights settled. The mother seemed to think that clients should put up with this, but I felt that my time and money were being wasted. How could I have handled this?

--J.G., Mission Viejo

Answer: Because you are paying for this woman’s services, you are in control of the situation. You can voice your displeasure in a constructive way. Tell her that you find the situation not conducive to transacting your business. You can suggest meeting her at times when her children are not there. Or you can take your business elsewhere.

--Ron Riggio

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Question: I’m a part-time worker. How many hours must I be on the job before my boss is required to give me a break? For example, if I work a five-hour day, how many breaks am I entitled to?

--D.B., Costa Mesa

Answer: If you are paid by the hour, rather than being on salary, you are entitled to one 10-minute break within a five-hour day. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer is not required to provide workers with rest periods such as coffee or snack breaks. However, the California Wage Orders require rest periods for hourly employees whose total daily work time is more than 3 1/2 hours.

Under state law, your boss must count such rest periods as working time and therefore pay you for them. But your employer can also require you to stay on company premises during your break because you are being compensated for the time.

--Elizabeth Winfree Lydon

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Question: I was recently promoted. One of the people now working for me makes more money than I do, since my employer didn’t give me a big enough raise to compensate. How should I handle this?

--J.B., Irvine

Answer: Congratulations on your promotion. Your situation is unfortunate but not uncommon, and there are several reasons why such apparent unfairness may exist.

One is pay compression. People who have been in an organization a long time typically have higher salaries than beginning employees. But to attract employees with particular skills, a company may have to pay new hires at a market rate close to, or above, that of its senior employees.

Another reason that a subordinate might earn more than his or her boss is the structure of the pay plan. If overlapping pay categories are used, the upper steps of one category (the subordinate’s) may be higher than the lower steps of the next category (the manager’s). Thus a new boss in the lower range of a higher category might receive less pay than a subordinate in the upper range of a lower category. Such a situation will be corrected as the manager moves up in the new pay grade.

Finally, inequities may exist because no formal pay plan exists. If that is the case, your salary may be a direct result of your ability to bargain for higher wages.

What you should do about the problem depends on the cause of the pay disparity. In any case, you should first discuss the issue with your manager. He or she may have some discretion over pay and may be able to resolve your difficulty by raising your salary. If the problem is because of your company’s pay structure, there may not be too much your manager can do.

If the problem is one of bargaining skills, you should prepare a persuasive argument about why you are worth more money. Sometimes getting a job offer from a competing firm can be a useful bargaining chip, but it can backfire if your manager tells you to go ahead and take the offer.

--Tom Mayes

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Question: Everyone in our department knows that our supervisor, who is married, is having an affair with one of our co-workers, also married. The situation is awkward for the rest of us, and also the co-worker is treated with favoritism. How can we deal with this?

--G.B., Anaheim

Answer: Do nothing. I understand that this is a very difficult situation. However, it extends beyond the boundaries of the workplace and into the private lives of your supervisor and co-worker--and their spouses. Interfering or even just gossiping about the situation will probably do more harm than good. Try to ignore the bad situation, and focus instead on your own work goals. The situation may resolve itself. If it doesn’t and you have difficulty working in such an environment, consider your alternatives.

--Ron Riggio

Please send your questions about workplace issues, challenges or problems to Shop Talk, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Or fax them to Shop Talk, (714) 966-7711. Questions of general interest will be answered in this column on Mondays.