Is your pay frozen indefinitely on a tupe contract?

SisleySister

Hi. Anyone with any knowledge on employment law out there? 

My local authority role was taken over by a private company 3 years ago and my contract was tupe-ed over. 

The new company tried to get us to switch to a new contract with less favourable holiday, pension and sick pay terms but a slight increase in
pay. I did not switch. 

My pay has now been frozen for 3 years and I have been advised that the only way to get a raise is to switch my contract to a private one on their terms. New starters are now earning 50% more than me per hour with no experience and less qualifications. 

This seems to be discriminatory to
me? 
Any advice on how I should proceed here?
thanks for your time

theoretica

TUPE protects you at the moment of transfer - now you have a choice between your current low pay and good benefits, or the higher pay and worse benefits on offer.  At some point, switching will probably make sense.

Jillanddy

By frozen, do you mean that you have only received the cost of living increases due to local authority staff? It is usual that TUPE from a local authority carries with it all terms - so you should still have any pay rises that you would have received had the transfer not taken place; you should still have your pension or a pension equivalent to the local authority pension; and the same sick pay terms as if the transfer had not taken place. Local authority transfers offer greater protections of terms than many other do because the terms agreed are usually much more specific on these matters than the law in general is. I am assuming this is the case for you, because you seem to suggest that the employer has offered you the opportunity to change your contract, receive more pay but lose some of your protected terms. In which case, you know what your options are, and it is no more discriminatory than you having terms around pensions and sick pay that your other colleagues don't have. 

Those new starters earning more than you won't have anything like the other entitlements that you have. 

Your options are:
(a) keep your existing terms but there is no pay rise
(b) agree different contractual terms - get the pay rise and give up the rest of your terms
(c) find another job.

[Deleted User]

What has trade union said about the situation?

TBagpuss

SisleySister said:

Hi. Anyone with any knowledge on employment law out there? 

My local authority role was taken over by a private company 3 years ago and my contract was tupe-ed over. 

The new company tried to get us to switch to a new contract with less favourable holiday, pension and sick pay terms but a slight increase in
pay. I did not switch. 

My pay has now been frozen for 3 years and I have been advised that the only way to get a raise is to switch my contract to a private one on their terms. New starters are now earning 50% more than me per hour with no experience and less qualifications. 

This seems to be discriminatory to
me? 
Any advice on how I should proceed here?
thanks for your time

Discrimination is only unlawful if the discrimination is due to a protected characteristic such as gender, disability, race etc. So while it may feel discriminatory to you, and may in fact be discriminating on the basis f your work history / choice not to agree to change your terms, it is not unlawful or actionable.

Obviously they are required to pay you at least minimum wage and if the terms on which you were TUPEd across included any rights to COL rises then it's likely that you are entitled to those, but you aren't entitled to a raise just because other people who work for your employer, on different terms, got a raise. 

Presumably the other, more favourable terms, which you have, have a cost for your employer (especially the pension) and they are choosing not to spend more on wages in additional to those higher costs.

Previously you chose not to give up those benefits in exchange for a higher salary, and it's likely that you still have that option .

You are of course free to advocate for yourself and to ask fo r a pay rise, based on your expertise, but they are not obliged to give you one.
You are also free to look for a new job elsewhere

hyubh

SisleySister said:

My local authority role was taken over by a private company 3 years ago and my contract was tupe-ed over. 

The new company tried to get us to switch to a new contract with less favourable holiday, pension and sick pay terms but a slight increase in
pay. I did not switch. 

My pay has now been frozen for 3 years and I have been advised that the only way to get a raise is to switch my contract to a private one on their terms. New starters are now earning 50% more than me per hour with no experience and less qualifications. 

If nothing else, it might be worth figuring out whether you've actually passed the crossover point? More favourable holiday terms can be quantified by multiplying your extra days leave by your salary / 365.25; superior pension rights can be quantified by looking up your employer's contribution rate in the LGPS fund (more specifically, their 'future service rate' - this information will be available on the administering authority's website), minus whatever rubbish rate they pay into their own DC scheme; sick pay terms is a bit harder, but then the relevance depends on how often you are actually sick.

While I would doubt this would come to a premium of 50%, on the pension side alone a premium of 20% or more wouldn't be unusual.