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Phrase: Above your pay grade
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Humans, both on a group and individual level, like to think we are all-knowing and all-powerful.
However, there is a hierarchy of knowledge and authority that governs what we can and cannot do.
When someone says that something is above their pay grade, they admit they lack the power, knowledge, or authority to do or decide it.
This phrase is often used honestly to mean someone doesn’t have the authority to do what you would like them to do for you.
For example, you may want a government official to bend the rules a little or ignore a technicality.
Although it can be done by someone else, it is, unfortunately, above their pay grade.
This means they will have to bring the matter to their supervisor or manager.
I suppose it’s another way of saying red tape is causing trouble yet again.
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There are also times when someone can use the phrase ‘above my paygrade‘ as an excuse not to do something.
It’s just my opinion, but in Canada or the US, this often happens at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
On the few occasions that I had to deal with them, they gave me the runaround or said, ‘That’s above my pay grade‘.
Then they sent me to the next counter over there without exactly telling me which counter or where it was.
The bottom line is that when something is above your pay grade, you do not have the knowledge or authority to do it or decide it.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 65.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.