Salary Discrepancy

wildheart83

I've been offered a new job with another company and duly handed in my resignation. Senior manager said the company couldn't match the offer. Line manager almost immediately said he'd something up his sleeve but he needed to speak to senior manager. 

Line manager's "something" is that the salary I've been on for the past year was wrong and should have been around £12k higher but apparently he never thought to look until now. I've since found out that 2 other people doing a similar role are on £17k and £15k more than me respectively. One has been here for 1 year more than me, the other about 5 years more but is less experienced than me. 

They've said if I stay they'll try to get me the higher salary and get it backdated, but obviously if I leave I get nothing. Does this sound right? Is it worth having a chat with HR or ACAS? It's a huge amount of money to me so I don't to walk away without a bit of a fight just yet 

Wonka_2

Firstly what's the salary range - £30-45k and you're on £30k so still within band ? or you're outside the bands ? or is it a smaller company with no bands ?

Secondly what's the scale of the issue - obviously £12k on £25k is a bigger issue than £12k on £75k

Is money the key motivator on whether you'll stay ? Have you performed and been recognised (obviously exc. salary) over the years that suggests you're valued ?

Personally I can't see anyone backdating more than to beginning of a trading/financial year - especially in the current circumstances but who knows. 

I certainly wouldn't be changing my plans until I had an offer/confirmation in writing from boss/senior boss

Undervalued

wildheart83 said:

I've been offered a new job with another company and duly handed in my resignation. Senior manager said the company couldn't match the offer. Line manager almost immediately said he'd something up his sleeve but he needed to speak to senior manager. 

Line manager's "something" is that the salary I've been on for the past year was wrong and should have been around £12k higher but apparently he never thought to look until now. I've since found out that 2 other people doing a similar role are on £17k and £15k more than me respectively. One has been here for 1 year more than me, the other about 5 years more but is less experienced than me. 

They've said if I stay they'll try to get me the higher salary and get it backdated, but obviously if I leave I get nothing. Does this sound right? Is it worth having a chat with HR or ACAS? It's a huge amount of money to me so I don't to walk away without a bit of a fight just yet 

Whilst you might be able to negotiate something to entice you to stay, there is no legal right to more money just because somebody else was getting more. The only exception would be if you could show that the real reason you got less was unlawful discrimination (e.g race, gender, etc).

wildheart83

There's no salary bands, although it's a fairly large company, and it's a £50k salary.

I've been asked to take over high profile workfrom other staff who weren't performing, and been headhunted internally to pick up the difficult clients, so as much as I don't like blowing my own trumpet I've knocked my pan in and delivered what other people couldn't. 

Undervalued

wildheart83 said:

There's no salary bands, although it's a fairly large company, and it's a £50k salary.

I've been asked to take over high profile workfrom other staff who weren't performing, and been headhunted internally to pick up the difficult clients, so as much as I don't like blowing my own trumpet I've knocked my pan in and delivered what other people couldn't. 

That may well be completely true. It may give you a moral right to some backdated pay, you may be able to negotiate some, but it doesn't give you a legal right.

wildheart83

Undervalued said:

wildheart83 said:

There's no salary bands, although it's a fairly large company, and it's a £50k salary.

I've been asked to take over high profile workfrom other staff who weren't performing, and been headhunted internally to pick up the difficult clients, so as much as I don't like blowing my own trumpet I've knocked my pan in and delivered what other people couldn't. 

That may well be completely true. It may give you a moral right to some backdated pay, you may be able to negotiate some, but it doesn't give you a legal right.

Yeah I get that, I think it's just a huge kick in the teeth to find that the rest of the people are on so much more than me. While it's true I'm the only female I can't prove that the salary difference is down to gender

JReacher1

There’s some red flags here. I would leave personally. 

Your senior manager says they can’t match the offer but your line manager (who must know how important you are) is going to try and manipulate things to give you the payrise you deserve. Doesn’t sound like you are valued and I wouldn’t trust the “backdated” suggestion. 

If you do want to stay keep the situation as it is and delay signing the contract for the new role as long as you can to see if your current employer provides a legally binding offer. 

Marcon

wildheart83 said:

Undervalued said:

wildheart83 said:

There's no salary bands, although it's a fairly large company, and it's a £50k salary.

I've been asked to take over high profile workfrom other staff who weren't performing, and been headhunted internally to pick up the difficult clients, so as much as I don't like blowing my own trumpet I've knocked my pan in and delivered what other people couldn't. 

That may well be completely true. It may give you a moral right to some backdated pay, you may be able to negotiate some, but it doesn't give you a legal right.

Yeah I get that, I think it's just a huge kick in the teeth to find that the rest of the people are on so much more than me. While it's true I'm the only female I can't prove that the salary difference is down to gender

You mean you believe:

 wildheart83 said:

 the salary I've been on for the past year was wrong and should have been around £12k higher but apparently he never thought to look until now. I've since found out that 2 other people doing a similar role are on £17k and £15k more than me respectively. One has been here for 1 year more than me, the other about 5 years more but is less experienced than me. 

Didn't you realise how wildly out of line with the market your salary (presumably) is, by more than 20%?

wildheart83

My salary isn’t out of line with the market, it’s out of line within my organisation. You can be doing my job on £35k or on £90k, depending on who you work for.
Line manager is blaming HR for not offering the higher salary, but as I say is only willing to rectify it if I stay. 

I’m the only full time female in my company doing this role, but I’m not saying I’m underpaid because of that.

goater78

wildheart83 said:

My salary isn’t out of line with the market, it’s out of line within my organisation. You can be doing my job on £35k or on £90k, depending on who you work for.
Line manager is blaming HR for not offering the higher salary, but as I say is only willing to rectify it if I stay. 

I’m the only full time female in my company doing this role, but I’m not saying I’m underpaid because of that.

Don't be afraid of mentioning you are the only full time female and are on a lower salary.  Unconscious sexual discrimination is a thing and they may have inadvertently discriminated against you.

wildheart83

goater78 said:

wildheart83 said:

My salary isn’t out of line with the market, it’s out of line within my organisation. You can be doing my job on £35k or on £90k, depending on who you work for.
Line manager is blaming HR for not offering the higher salary, but as I say is only willing to rectify it if I stay. 

I’m the only full time female in my company doing this role, but I’m not saying I’m underpaid because of that.

Don't be afraid of mentioning you are the only full time female and are on a lower salary.  Unconscious sexual discrimination is a thing and they may have inadvertently discriminated against you.

Thanks goater78 - I don't wanna be that person who claims sexual discrimination because she's bitter, but it's been a tough few days finding all this out. 

I've known the big boss for a long time (pre this job) so I think I can only have an off the record chat with him. If I don't ask then I'll definitely get nothing, if I ask and say no then it reiterates that I'm right to move on.