File under #2021Sharecropping
Dear HR Person,
I could use some help understanding some new information about my wage.
My department admin advised me this week that my horse's board at Upper Campus has been considered a benefit at $5 per hour worked. As I have never seen this benefit listed on my paystub, and have never heard otherwise, I believed that all Equestrian Department employees – especially those who teach and supervise students – received this benefit at no cost. As a summer camp riding teacher, I saw no indication that my contract did not include a personal horse or that I earned less because my horse was in a school barn. Likewise, when I received housing as a teacher, this benefit appeared as discounted rent added and then subtracted from my paystub.
In reviewing my most recent time cards, I calculate my horse's board benefit as $500 per month. I recall that is the amount our school charges students for privately-owned horse board and wonder why the school considers an employee benefit at the retail level.
Additionally, our director may not have conveyed to you that I am responsible for approximately 80 percent of my horse's care, stall cleaning, turnout, hoof care, veterinary care, and I buy about 25 percent of his feed. At barns in and around our valley, $500 buys full board includes stall cleaning, feeding, and feed. In a quick internet search, I found a trainer who includes full board, two training rides, and a weekly lesson for $500. Even without an employee discount, the care my horse currently receives fits more in line with the local industry standard for a barn where owners do some or all their horses' care. Either of these calculations would make my hourly wage at least $17.50.
As a school employee for four of the last five years, I am currently responsible for ensuring the health and well-being of between 15 and 24 horses, as well as the students I supervise and teach. With more than 50 of experience riding and caring for horses, a university degree that informs my riding instruction, and 25 years of high school classroom teaching experience, I am an asset to our school. Having my horse at the Upper Campus only increases my value to the school. I am a daily set of eyes on the horses and facilities whether I am on the work schedule or not. As I recall, administrators were as grateful for my presence in the early days of the pandemic lockdown as I was to have a place to fully quarantine.
In short, please help me understand, one, why I receive no discount on my horse's board benefit and, two, why you would pay a less experienced employee more recently hired with fewer responsibilities fully 13 percent more than the school pays me.
My supervisor's suggestion that I pay horse board elsewhere in the valley so as to receive a wage comparable to my less-experienced co-worker, wonderful and hardworking as she is, seems illogical. If the benefit I forfeit is worth $5 per hour, why would my wage only increase by $2.50?
This next sentence is a joke and not meant for any real email to my bosses, I promise.
Don't get me started on how the state and my unemployment insurance have been subsidizing you for my employment since 2019.
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