Equal Pay

shiney85

I wonder if anyone can advise, I was hoping to put this on the CAB pages but I wasn't able to post on there (??).

I work as part of a small team who do exactly the same job, without going into detail or giving anything away, we all work from one pile of work, and do exactly the same thing. Not long after starting, myself and a colleague who I get on well with were discussing our salary, and it transpired she earnt less than me. She raised this in her appraisal and was told everyone was on different wages, and that it was tough, basically. Fast forward to this week and I have seen an advert looking for another person to join our team, and the advertised wage is £1k higher than me.

My colleague and I discussed this, we both feel it's unfair that a newbie should earn more than we have even after a small payrise in April. My colleague has been googling, and has found info on legislation which states that if you do the same job, you should be on equal pay. I understand that length of service has to be taken into account and so eventually others will earn more if they have worked there longer, but surely we should start at the same level? Am I within my rights to ask for a payrise to bring my salary into line with the new starter to be?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

browneyedbazzi

An employer can't pay people different wages for the same job for reasons that would be illegal discrimination (ie on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation or disability). If the reasons for the difference pay are not reasons that would be illegal discrimination then they can pay different people different wages. The difference in wages are often down to fluctuations in the labour market - it's called a market for a reason and market forces do have an impact on what employers will pay and what employees will accept.

It might feel unfair and it certainly doesn't make for good staff morale but from the details you have given they aren't doing anything wrong and you can't force them to put you on the same wage as the newer staff.

shiney85

Thanks for the reply Browneyedbazzi, I was afraid that might be the case! There's definately no case for discrimination as we are all straight, abled women of the same age, ha, it does feel really unfair though as some people work harder than others and although I don't know how much the shirkers are on, it grates me to think they could be on more than me. Ho-hum!

DKLS

I wish this subject would become a sticky it crops up so often. I have managed staff where there has been up to 30k difference in pay for staff doing the same job.

In my view there is nothing wrong with this, say I advertise a role for 18-24k, if someone accepts the job at 18k I save the dept money, yet if another person could justify why they were worth 22k at interview for the same role they would get that, but I would add a clause that discussing salary was a dismissible offence to avoid cases like this. It also works the same at annual reviews, if someone comes to see me and is cannot justify a pay rise they don't get one, but if they came to me and said, I have taken on x additional tasks, I have increased revenue/improved process's and am learning to do x at night school, they would get a much higher pay rise.

shiney85

I understand what you're saying DKLS, but this isn't a case of accepting the wage I was given and the newbie asking for more, they are being offered £1k more straight off the bat, there's no question of being on the same wage as me. Unfortunately, in my role there are no additional tasks, no real targets, it's very basic, so no room to argue for a better wage in my yearly appraisal.

I disagree with a clause regarding not discussing salary, to me that gives employers the right to do what they like, so if you were being discriminated and for instance, a disabled employee was earning less than an able-bodied colleague, they would never know. Okay, ignorance is bliss, but discrimination should be addressed.

ohreally

shiney85 wrote: »

Fast forward to this week and I have seen an advert looking for another person to join our team, and the advertised wage is £1k higher than me

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