If you think you deserve a raise, do your research and then ask

Q. I have been working for a cardiologist doing data entry in his private practice. I was hired a year ago. I started at $9, and even at that time, my boss acknowledged that I was overqualified. When I requested a pay raise a few weeks ago, the vice president of operations said they do not offer annual reviews for part-time workers. I know that I am an integral part of the company because of my knowledge of the database. I was wondering if you could offer me an effective response, so they may reconsider. I don't want to threaten to leave, because they are flexible with my schedule as a student. Regardless, I still believe that I deserve a pay raise, even if it is for $1 an hour.

A. You may be able to find another data entry job in a medical office that will offer you flexible hours at a higher rate of pay. You may not need to stay in a position in which you feel that you are overqualified and underpaid.

I advise that you initiate two action plans: 1. Do some research to see if in fact you are underpaid and 2. Begin a confidential job search. Find other medical offices that are comparable in size, specialty, location, billing, etc. to yours. Call around to these offices to find the "going rate" for part-time medical database personnel with your level of expertise.

After you have done your research, schedule a meeting with the vice president of operations to review the relevant data. Present your findings in a calm and rational way. I am assuming that your evidence will prove conclusively that, at $9 an hour, you are indeed underpaid. If you are unable to gather this data firsthand, you can consult any of the commercial online salary websites, such as salary.com, salaryexpert.com, and wageweb.com; or access the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website, www.bls.gov.

It may be more difficult for your boss to continue to justify paying you $9 an hour when he sees the data that you have collected. As further documentation for your meeting, I suggest that you write up your own performance review. Keeping track of your accomplishments throughout the year and sharing this list with your supervisor annually is good practice, even if your employer does not complete a formal performance review for you. This can serve as a reminder to your boss what an asset you are to the office.

Your employer does not want to lose you. Hiring and training a new employee costs the employer much more than adding an extra dollar or two per hour to your paycheck.

At the same time, step up your job search efforts to find a medical practice with deeper pockets. Even if you end up taking a new job, your informal salary survey will be helpful as you negotiate your new starting salary .

A. When an employer initiates an obvious change in the type and/or conditions of an individual's employment, as your employer has done, you may decline to accept such a change and you may be entitled to unemployment benefits.

The only way to be certain of your eligibility for unemployment benefits is to file an unemployment claim. The state unemployment office will investigate your claim, gathering information from you and your employer, and then make a determination of eligibility, says Linnea Walsh, director of communications at the Massachusetts Department of Labor/Workforce Development.

Your position as a dispatcher appears to have been a full-time salaried job. The chauffeur position, on the other hand appears to be on-call as needed with a varied rate of pay. Therefore, the change from dispatcher to chauffeur appears to be a substantial change in the terms and conditions of employment. Under these circumstances, you would not be obligated to accept that change, and you should be eligible to collect unemployment benefits. Likewise, a change in your hours of work, from day to evening, as you had worked only daytime hours before, may also constitute a substantial change in the terms and conditions of employment, says Walsh.

For more information, you can go to the Massachusetts Division of Employment Assistance website, www.mass.gov, then click on "unemployment info" in the online services section of the front page. If you choose to file a claim by phone, call 877-626-6800 or 617-626-6800 . The website also includes the locations of the Unemployment Insurance Walk-in Centers throughout the state .

A. Your situation at work sounds quite frightening. Your company is entrusted with the safety of all its employees while you are at the work place. I am certain that your CEO is trying to respect this worker's rights as an individual with an emotional disability, and perhaps avoid being sued by the troubled employee were he or she terminated. Unfortunately, unless your CEO has other reasons for retaining this employee, he or she seems to be protecting this one employee at the possible expense of workplace safety for others.

If you are one of the managers who was directly threatened , you have several options : You could petition the CEO to reconsider the decision to retain the employee; you could seek a restraining order against this employee; or you could contact the police . If you were not one of the managers whom this individual threatened directly, then you would not be able to exercise all of these options.

Assuming that you are one of these managers -- or perhaps even this person's manager -- I suggest that you start with the least confrontational tactic, which is to schedule a meeting with the other managers and the human resources director. After discussing the issue with the others, it might be useful to draft a memo from the group. Repeat in writing the threat ; express your strong concerns about this employee; and request that the CEO reconsider the decision to retain this employee. Sign all of your names to the memo.

If the CEO is still unwilling to comply with your request, ask if he or she would be willing to meet with the managers and the human resources director. Perhaps a member of the psychiatric team can join your meeting to help explain this person's behavior and perhaps allay your fears. You may be able to negotiate certain conditions that will help the employee and reassure the staff. For example, the employee in question could be required to meet regularly with an employee assistance counselor. A "no tolerance" policy could be agreed upon by all and instituted -- that is, that this employee will be terminated immediately if there are any subsequent threats. Perhaps the employee could be reassigned to a role that involves limited contact with co-workers. At the very least, the employee should be reprimanded for this past outburst and helped to understand how frightening his or her behavior seems to others.

If you are one of the managers who was directly threatened, you could consider contacting the police in the city or town where your company is located to report this threat. "Most law enforcement authorities take seriously threats to kill others," says lawyer Daniel Field of Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, a Boston labor- and employment-law firm. This troubled employee could be arrested and charged with threatening to commit a crime.

As a last resort, if you are one of the managers who was directly threatened, you or any of the other managers may seek a restraining order in the county where the business is located. Depending on the decision of the court, this could prevent the employee from returning to work at his or her present workplace, says Field.

Employers are obligated legally to protect their employees and the public. "If an employee causes harm to another person, and if it is possible to prove that the employee's dangerous behavior was predictable, the injured party could hold the employer liable," says Field. Your CEO may need to be reminded of the company's potential liability in this regard.

Roni F. Noland is a career counselor/coach in private practice. She can be reached at rfnoland@comcast.net. E-mail questions to jobdoc@globe.com or mail to Job Doc, Boston Globe, Box 55819, Boston, 02205-5819.