Okay so this issue has several moving parts so I'm going to do my best to keep this compact. But there is some back story I need to go over:

I (25F) work at a fitness center doing membership sales. I started working here mid-June of this year and I really enjoy my job. I came to this position from a membership sales job at a different facility and it's been great up to this point.

The fitness center is owned by a corporate company and it is located within a community center which is a non profit. I have a great relationship with my direct supervisor, we will call him Brad (53M), as well as the General Manager of the fitness center who we will call Ted (59M). Brad and Ted seem to care about me on a personal level and have always seemed really invested in my success. Then we have Ted's supervisor, we will call him Larry (56M). Larry lives in New York and is responsible for overseeing around 10-12 fitness centers across the country.

Larry and I butt heads. He came to our center back in late August for the first time and it was very clear that him and I have very different selling styles. He's very old fashioned and prefers an approach that can only be described as "overzealous car salesman". I however approach my sales in a more friendly, chill, no pressure kind of way. I have been consistently hitting 105-110% of my sales goals every single month since I started in June so Brad and Ted have basically said to just keep doing what I'm doing and when Larry is in town just do what I need to to make him happy because he's really only in CO twice a year or so.

Okay. Fast forward to about a month ago, we decided that we wanted to bring on someone to handle membership when I am not here on Fridays and Saturdays. I am the only one in membership otherwise. One of our front desk guys, we will call him Sam (26M), just got turned down for a job he really wanted outside of here. I knew he would be great for the part time position so I told Brad and Ted that we should bring him on. They agreed that he would be a great fit for the job and they hired him for Fridays and Saturdays.

Sam needed help with the program we use for our time cards one day so I went over to help him. I accidentally saw how much he makes hourly, and it was about 30 cents more than me. I make $16.35/hour ( commission on sales) and he was making $16.67/hour ( the same commission on sales). I thought "that's weird" because he didn't have any sales experience before this and like I said before, I did. It wasn't a lot more money, but it definitely makes a difference in my mind.

I approached Brad about the pay difference and he was really confused and surprised. He told me that he would talk to Ted and get it fixed for me. Later that day I went to Ted's office to get approval for a flyer I made and he brought it up and apologized and said that it was his mistake and when he brought Sam on he must have just "had fat fingers". He told me that he would have to get my raise approved by Ted but it should be no problem.

Fast forward to yesterday and I was randomly perusing our corporate company's job board, as one does, and I came across MY job at our location posted as open.... and for WAY more money than I'm making for my base pay. If you add it up I make around 35k per year base. The job was posted for 41K base starting pay. This obviously got my feathers ruffled and honestly made me worried I was going to get fired. I went to a higher up in the community center that I trust and she told me that Ted and Brad are always raving about my performance and I have nothing to worry about. She told me that I should go have a chat with Ted because it's probably nothing. I was like... yeah you're right. So I went to talk to Ted.

When I went to Ted's office Brad was already in there so I thought it was a good time to bring everything up. I started it out light by jokingly saying "am I getting fired?" we all had a little laugh about it and Ted explained that they keep the job postings up to keep resume's coming in so they can maybe fit people in different positions. Seemed strange but I've never managed anything before so I'm not sure if that's normal or not. Then I said "have you guys heard anything about my pay?". The vibe in the room immediately shifted and Ted looked at Brad and said "Brad is going to talk to you about that later". I asked why we couldn't talk about it now and then Ted began this obviously rehearsed speech about how they value me and everything I have done for the company blah blah blah but they would not be approving my raise at this time.

I was shocked. Honestly. I thought it wasn't even going to be a big deal. 30 cents per hour is nothing to a large corporation but it makes a really big difference to me. ESPECIALLY when I know my male counterpart is making that extra 30 cents more than me.

Their excuse? Since I am the full time membership person I have the opportunity to earn a $200 bonus on top of my commission if we collectively hit 130% of our sales goal. Since Sam is part time he is not eligible for that bonus. Ted apologized again and said it was a 'miscalculation' on his part.

To me, this is crap. It seems like a cop out so they can cover their ass and not have to pay me more. I personally feel that bonuses should not be considered when it comes to pay equality because it's not guaranteed income. Aside from that, it is HARD to hit 130% of our goal so I will rarely earn that bonus.

I am honestly very hurt and appalled by the response that I know came from Larry. When he was here in August he talked down to me in a different way than he talked to my male counterparts. I have always felt like there was some sexism there but it wasn't anything worth stirring the pot about, but now, there is no doubt in my mind that he sees me as less than because I am a woman.

My question is- Shouldn't BASE pay be what is considered when it comes to gender pay equality? Isn't it weird that my job is posted for 6K more than I make now? Should this be something I talk to HR about? Our HR is run by the corporate company so I don't have access to an in person HR office so I would need to contact them via email or phone and I'm not sure how responsive they'll be. Larry is also very powerful and has a lot of money and I'm worried that if I go to HR they won't be on my side, they will be on his.

TLDR; I found out I am not being paid the same base pay as my male coworker even though I have more experience than him.