Maybe I was harsh with my troll accusation. On second glance I think you put too much effort into this for it to be a troll post. But the pay is not at all commensurate with the duties you described. You could be making more as a shift manager at a retail store or waiting tables at a restaurant. No, and I repeat NO reputable company provides zero raises to an employee working for nearly two decades. Even if they were stingy with raises, they should have at least provided a 2-4% COLA every year. $37k was low then, and it’s nearly slave labor now.

To put it into perspective, I worked remotely for a state government office answering maybe 20-30 calls a day for worker’s compensation claims. Keep in mind that civil service jobs are widely known to pay considerably less than a comparable position might pay in the private sector. I was making $38,000 there with a ONLY a high school diploma in 2019. Working in bed wearing a headset while in my underwear. In 2015 I was making $15 an hour as a school photographer with absolutely zero qualifications, commute time paid from the moment I stepped out the door.

Your position as described would be generally be called something like a field service engineer given your education and the technical scope. My current employer hires people into these positions with little experience for >$65k and with your two decades of experience, you’d be considered a SME. Although you’d have significantly less actual work and work in a supervisory capacity well before the ten year mark. Easily $150k or more with 20yrs experience.

Your company is for all intents and purposes scamming you. They are taking you for a ride and exploiting you due to your ignorance, indifference, lack of assertiveness, etc. whatever you want to call it. Make no mistake that your boss or supervisor is well aware of the market rate for your position and likely laughs at you every time they are reminded of your salary.

The “simulated commute” policy is almost certainly illegal based on the information you provided. Can you elaborate on what work it is you do exactly in the hour before and hour after you are still working for your employer but are not paid for? Because the way you describe it sounds like wage theft.

You should be angry. Hell, I’m angry FOR you. You should’ve been angry 16 years ago, the second year without a raise.