Unfair payrise system - is it right?

Misty-fied

I have found out that my company is offering payrises for promotions (after having been told on numerous occasions that they are not giving out any payrises for any reason due to the economic situation).

Can a company give payrises for promotions to some employees and not others?

I was given a promotion but no payrise. A person sitting 5m away got a promotion WITH a payrise - is this right? Do I have grounds to complain?

Any advice would be REALLY appreciated!

Thanks!

74jax

I'm sure someone else much more qualified will come alone but my first thought's were: Were you offered the promotion with no payrise and did you accept this? If so I can't see why you could complain because someone else in the same position didn't accept the no payrise and then got one.

Like I said though, it was just what I picked up from your comments.

sho_me_da_money

Not unfair but it might be worth having a one2one with your manager and mentioning that you know of someone who received a payrise with promotion and wondered why this didn't apply to you. Be professional and don't let your emotions get the better of you.

Let them answer and go from there.

Misty-fied

Thanks for your response.

I only accepted no payrise because I was told it was company policy that NOONE could get a payrise at the moment. Clearly this isn't the case - I was misled / lied to.

But yes, I accepted it becuase that was what I thought I had to do to get a very long awaited promotion!

DKLS

Of course they can give some staff pay rises and not others.

When I give annual appraisals, there are some staff who get 1% rises and others up to 10% rises. The difference between the two is that some staff come to me and say I would like an extra 5k, then follow up with justification such as taking on additional responsibilities, learning new skills in their own time, increased sales etc

It's up to you to negotiate your own salary this should start at interview.

Andy_L

Misty-fied wrote: »

Can a company give payrises for promotions to some employees and not others?

Yes, unless theres some form of discrimination, eg its only women who haven't received payrises on promotion

Misty-fied

Thanks for all the responses.

So guess the only thing I can legitimately complain about is being lied to about the supposed blanket ban on payrises!?

Sadly the only descrimination is that those who recieved payrises are the bosses 'favourites'!! Hardly illegal, just unfair.

Bobl

Pay rises are generally given for performance, so although a promotion may trigger a pay review, it does not necessarily follow that a pay rise would be awarded. Perhaps the others are the bosses favourites because they work harder or are more reliable (just a thought).

BitterAndTwisted

If you bring this information to your boss's attention you should fully expect to get into a whole world of pain for talking to each other about your pay-rates. Wherever I have worked this is extremely frowned-upon, to put it mildly. And would really scupper any hopes of further promotion or a pay-rise.

Don't think about it as a pay-scale for the role but appropriate pay for the person carrying it out. There could be any number of reasons for people carrying out similar roles but being remunerated differently. Also, some people know to keep their mouths shut about having discussed confidential issues with their work-mates and some wallys don't. Please don't be the wally.

claire16c

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

If you bring this information to your boss's attention you should fully expect to get into a whole world of pain for talking to each other about your pay-rates. Wherever I have worked this is extremely frowned-upon, to put it mildly. And would really scupper any hopes of further promotion or a pay-rise.

Don't think about it as a pay-scale for the role but appropriate pay for the person carrying it out. There could be any number of reasons for people carrying out similar roles but being remunerated differently. Also, some people know to keep their mouths shut about having discussed confidential issues with their work-mates and some wallys don't. Please don't be the wally.

Wasnt there some law brought in a couple of months back that made it illegal for employers to say that employees can not tell each other how much they are paid?

BitterAndTwisted

I've no idea. I've never worked anywhere where it was OK to discuss pay. Managers need to be able to keep to their budgets but also need to provide appropriate motivation to the best employees, especially those who exceed their targets and bust a gut with a smile on their faces every day. I have however worked in places where people felt entitled to a decent pay-rise even when their attendance and time-keeping were the worst I've ever witnessed. Maybe the current economic climate has taught them the error of their ways. I do hope so.