Sexual discrimination/equal pay issue

woody01

There are so many answers from people here that have an opinion in a field they know nothing about.

The NEBOSH qualifcation is a very complex one in the H&S field and always commands a decent salary.

If the OPs wife doesnt have it, then regardless of experience over the other guy, she is very under qualified for the role she is performing.

When dealing with the HSE, experience means diddly....its qualifications that count.

This qualification has an EXTREMELY HIGH failure rate.

bendix

It's touching that the OP is cheered by the fact their lawyer thinks they have a case. The lawyer will simply be doing what is commonly called 'business development'. Just because he or she wants to keep busy for a few days and attend a tribunal does not mean they will be successful.

I'm curious as to what the OP is trying to achieve with this. What is the end-game? A higher salary for the wife? Compensation? Losing her job?

Academic

woody01 wrote: »

The NEBOSH qualifcation is a very complex one in the H&S field and always commands a decent salary.

If the OPs wife doesnt have it, then regardless of experience over the other guy, she is very under qualified for the role she is performing.

Read the OP. Hedger's wife does have a NEBOSH qualification.

You (and certain others) seem to be unable to accept the fact the Hedger (and his wife) believe they have a case and are seeking to clarify their options by obtaining professional advice from a solicitor; regardless of your 'opinion' and Bendix's cynicism what other course of action can they take ??.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Academic wrote: »

Read the OP. Hedger's wife does have a NEBOSH qualification.

You (and certain others) seem to be unable to accept the fact the Hedger (and his wife) believe they have a case and are seeking to clarify their options by obtaining professional advice from a solicitor; regardless of your 'opinion' and Bendix's cynicism what other course of action can they take ??.

Yes a lesser NEBOSH qualification and given the OP's wife asked to study the same version as the other employee its clearly a better qualification to have and means something or they would never have asked to sit it.

olly300

bendix wrote: »

It's touching that the OP is cheered by the fact their lawyer thinks they have a case. The lawyer will simply be doing what is commonly called 'business development'. Just because he or she wants to keep busy for a few days and attend a tribunal does not mean they will be successful.

Most solicitors don't want to speak in a court/tribunal room. (They instruct a barrister for that.)

They can make easier money dealing with paperwork and contracts. Plus people who don't get taken into the court room are more likely to recommend them.

bendix wrote: »

I'm curious as to what the OP is trying to achieve with this. What is the end-game? A higher salary for the wife? Compensation? Losing her job?

That's a good question the OP and his wife should answer for themselves in private.

They should know if they do take legal action then it ruins the employer/employee relationship.

They should also read the wife's contract properly as some contracts have in them clauses that mean that if you take legal action against the employer you are suspended until the issue is resolved.

hedger

some interesting posts.
i will repeat the equal pay law is very clear on this, it will be up to the employer to prove they had a genuine reason - the point about the diploma i feel isnt particularly relevant. it was not a requirment for the job and the male advisor has only recently obtained the full qualification (remember he did not have the diploma when he started or a 3rd level qualification which was number 1 requirement on the job requirements). when my wife queried the difference the reason given by the director was simple "he negotiated a better deal" not "he has a diploma" or "he is more experienced". this was follwed up in emails to the director (so that it was recorded) and again negotiation was the reason given by him. we are confident that any GMF given can be proven to be untrue or not relevant enough for such a difference in pay. on the contrary we feel we can prove my wife has MORE responsibilities than her male colleague. i should add that the same director let slip to my wifes direct manager a while back that "my wifes salary needs looked at at her next review". of course her review date has now passed

the main reason we are doing this is because the director is trying to get rid of my wife unfairly before any assessment was even carried out (another director confirmed this to her) - this is as a direct consequence of her querying/embarrassing the director who let slip the males salary. so our view is if they are not playing fair then she should look at all her options

i agree that it is a very tricky situation to approach ur company at a time like this to query ur pay but wat else can we do? we are also apprehensive that if she officially queries HR they will use this to sack her over the tiniest little thing (like a past private mobile phone call on a company phone or something) so we may wait til the redundancies are announced in the next couple of weeks b4 sending the equal pay questionnaire to HR. it is all very worrying.....

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Tbh you sound paranoid and really need to get a grip.

There is no sex discrimination. Yes your wife is paid less but that is all to do with the fact she hasnt negotiated a good deal. not because she is female.

Your wife should have approached her pay at appropiate points i.e annual appraisals and so on.

She will not win a sex discrimination case.

woody01

Academic wrote: »

Read the OP. Hedger's wife does have a NEBOSH qualification.

You (and certain others) seem to be unable to accept the fact the Hedger (and his wife) believe they have a case and are seeking to clarify their options by obtaining professional advice from a solicitor; regardless of your 'opinion' and Bendix's cynicism what other course of action can they take ??.

If you knew ANYTHING at all about NEBOSH or other H&S qualifiactions, you would realise there are different levels of qualification and expertise.

The reason i do not accept the OP/his wife do not have a case is that i know about H&S qualifications whereas you (and the OP) clearly do not.

bendix

Academic wrote: »

Read the OP. Hedger's wife does have a NEBOSH qualification.

You (and certain others) seem to be unable to accept the fact the Hedger (and his wife) believe they have a case and are seeking to clarify their options by obtaining professional advice from a solicitor; regardless of your 'opinion' and Bendix's cynicism what other course of action can they take ??.

They are quite right to obtain advice, however misleading that advice might be. I just hope it doesnt lead them down a path they might not like finding themselves in.

As for cynicism . well, perhaps. I prefer to call it realism.

Just believing something to be the case, doesnt it make it so. I think woody and I are being more responsible than those cheerleading them on from a position of ignorance. We, at least, know what we are talking about and what the repercussions could be.

seven-day-weekend

I have no idea about the legalities of this case, but would just like to say that when I last worked as a Technician in the Planning Department of a Local Authority, there was a pay scale for the job with a range of about £4k.

Initially I was in a pool of Technicians of both sexes. We were all paid within the same scale but for various reasons including length of service, were all at different points within it.

So two Technicians on the same payscale could have a difference in salary of £4k.

Maybe it is something like this in the OP's wife's case.