A security guard expecting the starting pay for her job to be $22.50 an hour was surprised to learn that the job was actually paying $15.50 an hour—revealed during her orientation.
That’s the premise of the TikTok video created by Atlanta-area user Lae (@iamlae2u), getting more than 675,000 views as of Monday morning.
Most of the message is communicated in an on-screen caption reading, “Pov: when a job says starting pay is $22.50, but at orientation it say $15.50.”
@iamlae2u No fr 😂😂😂😂 #fyp #libra🧡🖤💛 #CVSPaperlessChallenge #whothisfa???? ♬ Equal Dirt – Rylo Rodriguez
The clip shows the creator in a security guard uniform, reading through a brochure, then pointing at it to lip-sync with the section of Rylo Rodriguez’s “Equal Dirt” that goes, “B*tch, who this for?”
The segment of the song was also used to comic effect on TikTok by a server in July who commented on a table confused about who ordered a dish on a very hot plate, and is findable elsewhere on TikTok using the #whothisfa???? hashtag.
Lae added in an accompanying comment, “No fr.”
The video brought in comments from a number of people horrified by the discrepancy in pay promised and pay delivered.
“Naw I be like this is illegal,” one remarked.
“Swear they never seen me again,” opined another.
“I had to learn what ‘up to’ mean,” cracked someone else.
A number of commenters said they’d encountered similar situations themselves, with one noting, “This happened to me,” before asserting, “If you show them proof they have to change your payrate.”
That may not be true, however. An article from OnLabor noted, “Companies’ attempts at deception are clearly reprehensible—but applicants often lack realistic legal recourse. A misled applicant could potentially bring suit against an employer for breach of contract or for fraudulent inducement of employment, but success in either claim would be difficult.”
It continued, “Courts have found employers guilty of breach of contract where they fail to pay the salary agreed upon in an interview, or where salary wasn’t discussed and a hired employee is paid less than an advertisement’s stated salary. Generally, however, job advertisements aren’t considered binding offers, but rather invitations to enter negotiations. Thus, if an employer indicates during an interview that the salary is less than what was posted, a court will likely treat this as a valid modification. This is especially true if the employer tells the applicant, as they often do, that because of their level of experience, they have to start them at a lower pay rate.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lae via TikTok comment.
