Not being compensated on time, what should be my next step?
Hey everyone, this story isn't about me, but rather my mom. For some context; we are located in Alberta, and my mom works as a LPN at a medium sized private institution.
My mom's workplace has a longevity pay, she gets around ~ $0.70 raise once she accumulates enough hours. However, the company that she works for hasn't been paying for her raise on time at all.
*PAST INCIDENT* Her first raise was supposed to be on May 2025, however she did not receive it until September 2025, adding onto that, she was retro paid the missing amount. She had to go through extreme lengths to fight for her correct payment. She contacted HR multiple times, talked to payroll managers, her own manager, officer managers, and even the general manager, (all of these people work in the same building besides HR) Her office manager is the one who can approve of her raise. She provided her own proof of her hours and begged for her proper amount. HR even sent multiple tickets, to which the office manager ignored. She got very lucky because one of the HR people took matters into his own hands and was going to file a complain against the office manager, that's when the office manager finally approved it.
However, this has happened again. She accumulated enough hours for another raise in January 2026. Again, she did not receive her raise as of writing this in May 2026. She has once again called HR multiple times and sent tickets, talked to payroll managers, office managers, and the general manager.
*CURRENT* This time, it is a little different. Her office manager just straight up refuses to give her the raise because she doesn't believe my mom has accumulated enough hours. She believed that the raise she received in September 2025 (which, if you're keeping up, was actually supposed to come in MAY 2025) and that she doesn't have enough hours. My mom has manually printed out all of her hours since may 2025, submitted it to the payroll manager, who then took it up with the office manager. The payroll manager has even told the office manager that "this isn't just something she WANTS, it's owed to her by THE LAW". My mom has truly exuded all of her options and the officer manager still refuses to give her the raise.
At one point, IT even asked the office manager if they could just set it up so everyone AUTOMATICALLY gets their proper raises when they accumulate their proper hours but she said no.
I lack the knowledge to fully know if this is enough to build a case, however my mom has documented nearly everything. She has:
- Her hours + pay printed out
- paystubs
- the emails she sent to higher ups, HR, and managers
- testimony's that others have also not been compensated on time (Btw, some people don't even know their owed a raise, even after working there for years.)
I'm seething just typing this. My mom has told me stories of this office manager straight up lying to her face. A payroll manager set up my mom's file and included her hours, paystubs, and other documents needed to get her approved. A week after the payroll manager gave the file to her, my mom went to the office managers office to check for an update, and lo and behold the file was untouched on her desk.
My mom is over 450 hours above the required amount to get a raise and has practically been begging everyone around her to do something about it. I fear she's starting to get ignored and her options are limited. Though the money she's owed so far is something like ~320 (from Jan 2026 to now) , i'm not sure thats significant enough to start anything.
Thank you for reading! Any advice is helpful!