Cost of living increase?

Liamade

Not sure if anyone can offer any advice? So my workplace communicated that all employees would be getting a cost of living increase back in January. This would commence in Feb pay with backdated jan. Fast forward to Feb, 3 days before payday and my line manager drops into the conversation, “oh by the way you won’t be getting the pay increase” apparently this is because my pay is at the top of the pay for my grade. I would understand this if it was a performance increase, but it was communicated as a cost of living raise. I’m the only one who hasn’t had an increase. Is this ok or discrimination?

ohreally

What has your place on the payscale got to do with a cost of living uplift?

Id be spitting feathers.

TELLIT01

ohreally wrote: »

What has your place on the payscale got to do with a cost of living uplift?

Id be spitting feathers.

Everything. If the company hasn't increased the upper limit of the payband, and the OP is already there, they will get no increase. It happens a lot, and actually happened to me some years ago.
There is no legal requirement for a company to review and increase payband limits. There is no automatic right to a cost of living increase. When I worked for DWP no staff on £21k or above received any pay increase for several years.

elsien

Yes, I had the same in a previous job. People at the top of the scale had pay frozen while others below them had the cost of living increase. I don't think it's unlawful.

comeandgo

Not unlawful. I'm at top of payroll too, no pay rise unless I do something super extra and will get it as a bonus.

ohreally

The op isn!!!8217;t talking of a pay rise but a cost of living uplift, that all employees were told they would receive (the ops information).

Being at the top of a pay grade isn!!!8217;t a barrier to receiving cost of living.

lisyloo

It's not discrimination or at least being at the top of a pay grade isn't a "protected characteristic" such as gender, race, religion etc.
but it is a case of very poor communication.

Personally I'd keep my mouth shut and decide privately whether the job is worth it overall. There may be factors such as location, flexibility that mean it's simply not worth moving and what is the point of being negative if that is the case. Whether you agree with it or not it doesn't sound like it was personal.

LilElvis

ohreally wrote: »

The op isn!!!8217;t talking of a pay rise but a cost of living uplift, that all employees were told they would receive (the ops information).

Being at the top of a pay grade isn!!!8217;t a barrier to receiving cost of living.

A "cost of living uplift" is a pay rise though - just using different wording.

lisyloo

A "cost of living uplift" is a pay rise though - just using different wording.

So what?
Depsite being very poor communication it's not enforceable.
The OP just has to decide whether this is a battle worth fighting.
Personally I'd say it isn't.
Either go or stay taking into account all factors, but better to not make a fuss and accelerate yourself to the top of the next redundancy list or damage your chances of getting a good reference.

I'm not saying people shouldn't stand up for themselves, but they should first decide which battles are worth fighting.
There is low chance of gain and high chance of it negatively affecting the perception of the OP in the workplace.

If they are generally a bad employer and this means there is little chance of increase then is it time to look elsewhere? If so energies would be better spent on that.

TELLIT01

I agree I'd be pretty unhappy in the circumstances outlined by the OP but that doesn't mean they can actually do much about it. The likelihood is that their line manager never even thought about somebody being at the very top of their pay grade.

Vegas2010

Liamade wrote: »

Not sure if anyone can offer any advice? So my workplace communicated that all employees would be getting a cost of living increase back in January. This would commence in Feb pay with backdated jan. Fast forward to Feb, 3 days before payday and my line manager drops into the conversation, “oh by the way you won’t be getting the pay increase” apparently this is because my pay is at the top of the pay for my grade. I would understand this if it was a performance increase, but it was communicated as a cost of living raise. I’m the only one who hasn’t had an increase. Is this ok or discrimination?

I think your best bet is to frame it around concern you're at the top of the band and where progression lies in future whether that's promotion or wage increases. If you put that challenge over a long with stating you're upset not to have it when all others have and communication to you said you would, it may make them rethink and potentially change it or at least be aware it will be a big issue if the same thing happens the following year.