What to do when you are not paid as offered in a contract?

Question

I recently started a new job through a temp agency, and upon being hired and offered the position, I received an email from the agency that the rate is $X an hour. When submitting my hours on a timesheet for the agency the rate is lower than offered through the email. And of course the recruiter did not respond to my email...

Not only does the supervisor of the job love me, I was hired on very short noticed and just finished training for the position. They seem desperate to fill this role, so I feel I have an advantage in this regard. But what should I do about the less than agreed upon wage? Do we really all have to take sh*t from employers because they feel empowered that the current job market is so competitive?

I appreciate any advice and feedback.

Answer 1

Never rely on email for a situation where you need a response. You just invite the recipient to ignore you if it would make their life easier to do so. Phone the agency, and ask why the rate is incorrect (don't say the rate is "different" or "lower", say "incorrect").

If they stonewall you and basically say the original email was incorrect, the lower rate is correct, and there's nothing they can do, then and only then do you need to decide whether you're willing to walk away from the job. If you're not, even at the lower rate, it's very difficult to apply much pressure to them. You can threaten, but if you're not prepared to follow through, it may not work.