Seeking advice on what I can do in this situation.

The company I work for (a major healthcare company in California) recently changed from a per patient pay model, to an hourly pay model in march of this year. When the change occurred, I was given an hourly rate, and told I would be eligible for the annual merit raise of 4% at time of my next review in October. I have emails from HR saying this.

October comes, I do my review, which was excellent, and notice the raise isn’t showing up on paychecks. So I inquired about it with a manager, and they are now claiming that when the switch to hourly occurred, that rate already was increased and I wasn’t eligible for a merit based raise. This was never discussed at any point, and I was led to believe I would be eligible because of what HR told me. I just feel this is so deceptive and I’m wondering what can be done about this. I’ve asked management about this twice in the past week, provided proof of the emails from HR back in march and I’m getting ignored about it.

Can I file a complaint to anyone? State labor board in CA?