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I work entry technical support for a contracting company for a much larger well-known corporation. I was hired back in December 2020 to do the graveyard shift. I have experience in this position as I worked the same (student) job at my college for 4years but this is the first “proper job” since I graduated in June 2020.

I started out with $18/hr with no benefits which I was at first reluctant because it doesn’t seem to properly compensate the graveyard shift. Still, I took it because I have only had an internship outside of the college job and this would be nice on the resume.

After a couple of months, I was asked to apply as a full employee but it was eventually not offered to me. And as the contract initially set to end in late July, I figured I should at least get a raise 6 months in. And I did indeed get $1.5/hr up at the beginning of June. This has been my first time researching my pay and I realized I am underpaid (I could be wrong) for my job, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics for my metropolitan area; another similar job in the area offers $4014/mo with benefits and is day shift.

Now the contracting company extended my assignment to September for two more months. I was wondering if it’s reasonable to ask them for a raise again given that the factors for consideration for the earlier raise was different (I wasn’t expecting an extension and wanted at least Jun-Jul to be $19.5) and the fact that I’m still doing the graveyard shift and that the pay doesn’t accurately compensate for it nor comparable with similar local positions.

I’m fine with walking away with the original end date at the end of July if I want to take a break and reset my sleep schedule, but if I’m not too motivated to find a new job I might as well continue for two more months with a higher rate.

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  • @JoeStrazzere I guess I’ll say something along the lines of “that’s understandable”? But thanks for pointing that out.
    – potasmic
    Commented Jun 24, 2021 at 9:54
  • Why have you waited to long to ask for another raise ?!
    – Fattie
    Commented Jun 24, 2021 at 11:25
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    @Fattie it’s my first proper job and I didn’t know how to valuate my work/condition, when to ask to negotiate. It is already at a higher rate than the campus jobs I’ve had before.
    – potasmic
    Commented Jun 24, 2021 at 11:35

1 Answer 1

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Contract extensions are points of negotiation.

You are free to negotiate. They are also free to fire you, irrespective of whether you negotiate or not.

There is no "should" in either the legal or ethical sense. The decision is entirely up to you if you want to.

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    You are correct that there is no “should” neither in legal nor ethical sense, but there is a “practical” sense, which requires a measure of “is it worthwhile calling them up with the risk of being backfired for asking within a month of the last raise”. I personally don’t think they’ll fire me for asking because they recently extended it, but still… maybe someone here has a good measure of the situation.
    – potasmic
    Commented Jun 24, 2021 at 3:45
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    It's worthwhile because they are extending your contract, which is an expected point of negotiation. They can take offense to that and fire you. I don't expect that, but people can get offended for whatever reason they want.
    – Nelson
    Commented Jun 24, 2021 at 4:41

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