Being treated unfairly at work

house44

In 2014 I was promoted by interview to a lead position at work. I did the job for 9 months before I became ill and had to have 2 months off work.  When I returned to work I was still ill and told my manager I needed to concentrate on my health and couldn't do the job justice, so they dropped me back to my previous role.  I was grateful at the time as I was told my pay would stay the same.  It took me 3 years to get better and at which point I was ready to lead again, over these 3 years I either didn't receive a pay rise or received the minimum pay rise.  Fast forward 2 years and I still don't have the lead position.  A year ago another lead left the team and I have been doing his role ever since, but without the promotion.  I have been with this company for 15 years and feel there is no loyalty! I feel that they have handled the situation badly, that job was mine I was interviewed for the position and did the job for 9 months. I was recently interviewed for a lead role in a different team (within our same department), I was told there was a better candidate (external) because they had a skill I didn't have, my 15 year experience didn't count for anything!  I'm becoming more resentful and frustrated and it's keeping me up at night.  I've not spoken to the main manager about it and not sure what my line manager has been telling them.  I'm just after some advice, do I have a leg to stand on?  Thanks

ssparks2003

You say that the company has treated you unfairly and that there is no loyalty, yet they let you down grade your role because you were ill, they kept you on the same money, they supported you and covered your absences including the 2 months you mention. I would have to say that there is a lot of loyalty and compassion shown there. 

As to whether the role that someone else is now doing is yours because you were in that role for 9 months over 6 years ago. I think you are honestly having a laugh. Over that 6 years other people's skills have developed and the companies needs have changed. You may in 2014 been the least worst candidate for the role but you walked away from it to focus on your health, be grateful you have a job and stop thinking that the world owes you something. 

StevenB12

I would somewhat agree with ssparks.

You being unwell wasn't your fault nor the company you work for. If they let you down grade and kept you on an upscaled pay grade at the time, that's something a lot of work places don't do these days. If i'm off sick I don't get paid a penny. It sounds as though they kept you going financially as well as still being in a job for those 3 years, as far as a pay rise, during that time if you were still ill, they would be in their rights to not give you a pay rise as you're technically, to them, still on the sick, even if you were at work, you weren't at full capacity.

You have nothing to lose by speaking to one of your managers and explaining how you feel and at least asking for any reasoning as to why you haven't been promoted, or would it be possible to up skill so that you have the correct tools for when a position does come about?

JReacher1

On the pay rise issue a lot of companies have pay bands. If you kept the lead salary when you asked to be demoted you were probably on a salary that was higher than the pay band of the role you were doing. As a result you wouldn’t be able to get a pay rise. 

Savvy_Sue

I think you have two choices: speak to your manager and ask what you could do to get yourself back where you were, OR look for another job. If you're feeling resentful and frustrated to the extent that it's keeping you up at night, and the comments above don't help, then looking for another job might be best. But equally, if the comments above don't help, then talking to someone independent about the way you feel might help. 

Does your (fairly generous!) employer have an Employee Assistance Programme which would allow you to do just that?

k12479

Being demoted is often fatal to an individual's career prospects in that organisation. The problem here is that, despite the sickness, you were still capable of doing the lower role so it looks like you couldn't or wouldn't rise to the new role rather than being unable to do it due to health reasons. How you might get past that, if at all, is tricky. I would consider grabbing some time with the manager or line manager and laying out the background and asking what would you need to do to get promoted, what's the likelihood and what might be the time frame.

Echoing others, you don't appear to have been treated badly and you need to look a this from where you are and where you go, not from where you were 6 years ago and why aren't you back there now.

TELLIT01

I don't agree that the company has treated you badly.  You were unable to do the job so they moved you, by mutual consent, to a less demanding role and allowed you to remain on your old salary.  That situation has continued for a number of years.  I don't know of any company which would allow you to move down the ladder, continue on your old salary AND then give you the annual payrises for the previous role.  If anybody is acting unfairly / unreasonably I would suggest it is not the employer.

Marcon

house44 said:

I'm becoming more resentful and frustrated and it's keeping me up at night.  I've not spoken to the main manager about it and not sure what my line manager has been telling them.  I'm just after some advice, do I have a leg to stand on?  

Simmering in silence never helped anything. By the time you finally decide to speak to someone, it's likely your resentment will have built up to the point where you do yourself no favours by exploding in all directions instead of having the calm and reasoned conversation which might end up with a productive outcome.

Get your thoughts together; write them down; have a sensible conversation - but accept you might not like the answer. Having a leg to stand on isn't the answer. What matters if the value you can add for the company if you are promoted to a leader role. 

theoretica

Just as when you are promoted you would expect to be treated according to your new role, when you were downgraded the company is now treating you as being in the lower role and not guaranteed first offer of any lead roles that come up.  I think it would be worth a conversation about how you have been doing the lead role recently since that colleague left and what are the plans for it as you would like it permanently. 

It is not surprising that when your company generously supported you by letting you keep the higher salary they didn't give you pay rises until the salary of the role you were actually doing caught up.  It hasn't been mentioned- was your illness clearly unconnected with the role?

TBagpuss

Like other posters, I don't see any unfairness.
You were promoted but were not able to continue in that role for health reasons, so your employers agreed that you would return to your previous role, but at the same salary.
It's reasonable that you didn't get any further pay rises until the going rate for the less senior job caught up with what they are actually paying you. If you are now being paid under market rates for that role then it would be reasonable or you to ask for a raise.

It's not unfair for them to have not promoted you again. You can have a conversation with you managers to say that you would be interested in being considered for a more senior role, when one is available, but they don't owe it to you.  They may have concerns about whether you would be able to manage it, so if things have changes and the issues which resulted in you needing to step down from the previous promotion have changed, then let your manager know that - this may involve raising the fact that you have been doing the lead role since your co-worker left and asking whether that can be made official / permanent.  

s it the fact that you on't have the job title which bothers you, or do you feel you should be getting paid more for doing that role?

Bear in mind that your managers may not be deliberately not giving you the title, it may not be something that they see as important as you do.

And in terms of pay, do you know what others are getting in that type of role? it's possible that you are being underpaid for the role you are actually doing, and it is fine to advocate for your self on that basis, but approach it as 
"These are the tasks / responsibilities I've been doing which I think justify a raise" not "you're being mean and unfair "

The fact that you didn't get the lead in the other team that you applied for isn't unfair - they had another candidate who they decided was better . That's how job interviews work. 15 years experience is good, but one or two years recent experience in the things that are most important for the team may well be better.  If you do speak to your manager, you could ask what you can do to increase your chances - are there internal opportunities to learn the skill you don't have? If not, you could look at whether it is something you could learn for yourself.
And of course, there is nothing to stop you looking around for other jobs - if you find something that pays better and give you the change to move on, take it, but in the mean time, maybe adjust your expectations and sense of entitlement.

The only thing I can see where you have a legitimate reason to complain is if you are doing a team lead job but not being paid at the going rate, and that is a conversation to have in a professional way with your manager.  
 

Comms69

You realise, they could've just dismissed you when you decided to come back but you coudlnt do the job, right? - no good deed....