I have an awesome job at a telescope. I love it. It’s an industrial jobs and I get to work in a range of things from moving giant machinery with overheads cranes to repairing fiber on light collecting instruments. Last year a telescope operator quit and they created a temporary assignment because it would be too expensive for me to fill in at my hourly rate (though it’s already in my job duties), effectively to move me to salary. Management and university HR determined a salary and implemented it effective immediately without any good faith offer. By the time I realized how bad the salary was and complained about it, I lost 214 hours of overtime and $7500 dollars. I continued working the telescope operator position as hourly for the next few months until they assigned someone else (who doesn’t have the job duties). Their explanation? “We though you agreed” and “you worked an exempt job”. Terrible explanations for how this was legal. I’ve been borderline tolerating it but this week I left the telescope balling with tears in my eyes and crying because I can’t tolerate it anymore and likely won’t return to work because they have destroyed all my trust in management and the university. Such a small amount of money for them but a huge amount for me.