my pay at work

amiemia22

hello everyone out there
I have a few questions about my pay at work. so if anyone can help i would be really grateful:rolleyes:

anyway, i have been working within a care environment for over a year now and my wage has just gone up to £5.82 with the min wage increase for a 22 year old. I have just recently found out that another girl that does the same job, who is a few months younger (still 21) is recieving the full adult wage and has been since her last birthday. .

I would like to ask my employer about this matter and discuss why i didnt get the same when i was 21? (only just over a month ago i turned 22) i dont know how to approach the topic and not seem too demanding.
i am aware about employers not having to offer full pay complusary but with having to travel a 60 mile round trip some days i feel a bit peeved off having had to struggle with my money on such a low wage!!:eek:

what does everyone think???

thanks

Anihilator

I think what your colleagues are paid is irrelevent.

You were paid NMW and accepted the job at the salary offered. You have no right or imo reasonable expectation to claim grievance here and would be best to keep your nose out rather than risk upsetting the employer especially in what is a very volatile hour were hours and contracts come and go very easily.

Also its very possible your employer just couldnt be bothered with the hassle of paying her less for a few months to have all the admin work of putting it up then.

vicshippers

Personally, I would say that to raise the issue now may cause more problems than it solves. While it may not seem fair - it could be that she asked for a pay increase as part of her contract when she started.

Are you saying that if you do raise it, you would expect them to back pay the amount that you would have earned? It is VERY unlikely that this would be authorised, and may make you look money focussed (not a great thing when working in a care environment).

I can see why you feel peeved now, but if you felt the money was too low for you to survive on at the time (or even if you thought you were worth more than your hourly wage) the best thing would have been to raise it at the time. Maybe it's best that it's a lesson learnt for the future.

Heliflyguy

Ignoring some of what other posters say, what colleagues earn is relevent if doing the same work and there is a process to getting equal pay.
In your case you both are now on the same pay and whilst you could try and get the underpayment back I would not advise you go there.
Questions such as how do you know how much the other person earns would be raised and you would no doubt create a much bigger problem than the lost earnings as others have pointed out.
Forget what has gone and carry on with the worthy work, I have every respect for the work you do, I only wish it was better paid than it is.

amiemia22

thanks for the feedback everyone. your all very right in everything you have to offer as advice, but the person involved has been there longer than me and we were both on the same wage when i arrived. If this had stayed the case i wouldnt be questioning what i had been paid.

Willsnarf1983

amiemia22 wrote: »

thanks for the feedback everyone. your all very right in everything you have to offer as advice, but the person involved has been there longer than me and we were both on the same wage when i arrived. If this had stayed the case i wouldnt be questioning what i had been paid.

if the person has been there longer then maybe they have had a pay increase due to experience and time there

Will

amiemia22

unlikely. we both do the same job and have the same responsibilities:eek:
oh well, i leave soon so it doesnt really matter too much now. looking back, i should have left and looked for a job closer to home and paid better! a hard lesson learnt but never again x:beer:

Willsnarf1983

amiemia22 wrote: »

unlikely. we both do the same job and have the same responsibilities:eek:
oh well, i leave soon so it doesnt really matter too much now. looking back, i should have left and looked for a job closer to home and paid better! a hard lesson learnt but never again x:beer:

just because u both do the same job and have the same responsibilities doesn't mean that having more experience doesn't account for a better payrate

foxy-roxy

TBH if i found out a colleague who did the same job as me was earning more money i would be peeved, but i would probably mention it in my appraisal, and see if there was anyway i could work toward getting a pay rise.
This worked successfully for me in my job now.

DVardysShadow

Anihilator wrote: »

I think what your colleagues are paid is irrelevent.

You were paid NMW and accepted the job at the salary offered. You have no right or imo reasonable expectation to claim grievance here and would be best to keep your nose out rather than risk upsetting the employer especially in what is a very volatile hour were hours and contracts come and go very easily.

Also its very possible your employer just couldnt be bothered with the hassle of paying her less for a few months to have all the admin work of putting it up then.

Hypothetically, other employee is male, OP is female. White/black. etc.

Anihilator

Would still be irrelevent unless there was clear discrimination due to that factor.

There is not remotely a sign of age discrimination here.