Imagine working at a company where you’re assigned a specific project because you happen to have special certifications that you need in order to do the project.

If this were a project that was really something that you should be paid more to do, would you insist on a raise or do the project regardless?

In this story, one man is in this exact situation, and his manager isn’t willing to let him continue on the project unless he gets a raise or a promotion.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

Work my wage.

I work in a 200 person sized company. Have been here for 9 years. Department colleagues are great, other than 1 person(but that’s for a different story).

My manager is among the best people I’ve had the good fortune to ever meet, and both department heads I’ve worked with are fantastic too.

This particular incident happened during Covid.

Here’s the background on why he had a certain role.

I was assigned to a project for a specific role which was typically for managers. However, this government project also required someone to submit sensitive documents for approval, and you needed to have government certifications.

To get these certifications you had to attend courses and training that were usually for managerial levels. They were also not cheap, a couple of thousands. I got these from a previous job that unfortunately went bankrupt.

I wasn’t a manager in my current job, but due to having these certifications I was assigned the role.

I love that his manager is fighting for him.

My manager has been trying to get me promoted for awhile now, but HR constantly provided excuses. “No available position, not the right time, he needs to prove himself etc”.

Manager figures this is the perfect time, and goes to HR again with my HoD’s blessing.

HR again rejects the proposition, and my manager instead argues for a pay raise then.

HR says that I’ve already hit the cap for my position, tough luck.

The manager knows what to do.

He’s now mad, and thinking of the next plan.

HR then sends him an email reiterating everything, but adds “he should be working his wage anyway”.

He just smiles, and starts his MC by telling me he’s taking me off the project, as well as informing the project lead.

Project lead informs HR that they need to fill the slot, either by sending someone to train for the role, or to hire someone.

HR is appalled by the price and instead chooses to hire someone instead. This is where crap starts rising.

This could be a big problem.

Remember I mentioned that this was a government project. That means if we fail to meet deadlines we get fined.

With no one submitting required documents for approval the project grinded to a halt.

First month, HR did nothing, not even putting out hiring ads.

At the end of the month, we were fined 5k.

HR tried a little harder.

HR finally realizes that this was serious, and finally started putting ads out.

However, they offered basically intern tier of pay, lowballing the hardest I’ve ever seen. There was no shot anyone with said certifications ever taking up the offer.

Month 2 ends, we get slapped by a 25k fine as listed in the contract.

HR panics now, raising their offer, but again still way too low.

HR really isn’t trying hard enough.

Month 3 ends, we now get an additional 50k fine. C suite are now all involved, especially the CEO.

CEO questions project lead why no work was done for 3 months. Lead sends him to HR.

HR tried to throw me under the bus, but my manager and Head produced HR’s email.

CEO pulls me into a meeting with my manager and Head, asks me to return to my role. In addition, he guarantees me a promotion, including back pay since the start of the project. He even sends an email with his official business use signature stating the offer.

I agree.

Here’s the fallout.

In the end, 1 HR member got fired, and another demoted.

CEO also started a separate progression path in the company, for those who aren’t interested in managerial roles.

In fact, I got 2 promotions for that path, and I currently earn slightly less than a manager, and also getting more responsibilities as per the role.

My manager and I sometimes joke that I upgraded from being a bronze cog to a golden one, but honestly I don’t mind, as I know I would absolutely fail at managing.

I love OP’s manager and CEO. They both did the right thing. The HR employees deserved to lose their jobs.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

He really had a great manager.

More praise for the manager!

This person has questions about HR’s reasoning.

Not everyone wants to be a manager.

His manager was the real MVP.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.