Can an employer refuse to backdate payrise for employee in notice period?

lincroft1710

pensionpawn said:

TELLIT01 said:

Entitlement depends on the contract of employment.  Many have content to the effect that a person must still be in employment on the date payment is made.

Even if they were still employed for months after the date the pay rise is effective from? Call me cynical, however I'm convinced that my company is exploring strategies for effectively avoiding a pay rise for a considerable number of the workforce next year. There are reasons why staff may start to leave next summer and it now looks like that the longer they wait to award the cost of living rise, the more money they will save. Morally corrupt.

But not unlawful and as far as the company is concerned, a sensible money saving policy.


Do not expect employers to expend money if they don't have to.

TELLIT01

pensionpawn said:

TELLIT01 said:

Entitlement depends on the contract of employment.  Many have content to the effect that a person must still be in employment on the date payment is made.

Even if they were still employed for months after the date the pay rise is effective from? Call me cynical, however I'm convinced that my company is exploring strategies for effectively avoiding a pay rise for a considerable number of the workforce next year. There are reasons why staff may start to leave next summer and it now looks like that the longer they wait to award the cost of living rise, the more money they will save. Morally corrupt.

Morality doesn't come into the decision making process.  Qualifying rules for bonuses, payrises etc are always there to save an organisation money.  I joined one company 2 days to late to qualify for their annual bonus.  I had contributed to their profits for 363 or the 365 days of that year, but that didn't matter.  What they have done is legal.  At another place I worked a number of people were made redundant on the last day of the month.  That date, I'm sure it was entirely coincidental, was the day before they would have qualified for the annual bonus.  The place I was working was a Civil Service office.

The other side of the coin was where my wife worked up to retirement date.  She retired in September and in April the following year had a payslip sent through paying her half the annual bonus.

pensionpawn

Thanks for all your comments. Yes, we've no right to a pay rise, however in this case that isn't the issue as a pay rise has been "offered", however it would appear that those who are in their notice period are not eligible. The employee in question, the rest of the department and probably the majority of the workforce were previously unaware of this morally bankrupt, though apparently perfectly legal, procedure. I also accept that businesses are there to make money and an employee is just a cog in the machine, and if they can get away with not paying back pay, they will. However that does send a clear message to the rest of us for next year. The contract that we've all been working on for many years is (unexpectedly) coming to an end mid financial year and come next April I have no doubt that the company will drag their heels with the cost of living award even more than this year to try and keep staff from quitting early (and potentially cause contract delivery penalties in the final few months) due to losing back pay during their notice period. I think I'll let them know well before April that if they try to do that with me I'll just quit (retire) in April and wish them luck recruiting someone who will be able to do the job, for just a few months, sufficiently well to avoid a contract delivery penalty.

comeandgo

Why do you think the majority of the workforce are unaware of this policy?  Is it not detailed in your employment contract?  

prowla

I don't think that excluding employees who are working their notice from pay reviews is morally bankrupt and, as suggested by someone it may even be written in the contract and so it's stated up-front and not something the company is trying to get away with.

Of course, it is a good idea to take timings of these things, the tax year, holiday entitlement, and so-on into account when planning to quit.

Another thing to consider is whether untaken leave is paid at the end of the employment too; that can effectively be a little bonus in the pay packet. Of course, it's calculated pro-rata up to the end of employment, which means that if more than that number has already been taken, then the amount of pay to cover the discrepancy will be deducted instead.

MorningcoffeeIV

pensionpawn said:

The employee in question, the rest of the department and probably the majority of the workforce were previously unaware of this morally bankrupt, though apparently perfectly legal, procedure.

I'd be surprised if your colleagues are as dense as you make them out to be.

I've had the very common clause of 'no payrise if serving notice' in most of my contracts and in not aware of it coming as a shock to any of my colleagues.

pensionpawn

comeandgo said:

Why do you think the majority of the workforce are unaware of this policy?  Is it not detailed in your employment contract?  

It is not.

Sarahspangles

You asked for experiences…. My OH worked for a large unionised private sector company, he mutually agreed his retirement date for a point comfortably after the normal date at which the pay settlement was usually agreed. There was then a delay in negotiations as the unions decided to go for a significant cost of living increase. HR and his union both confirmed he would qualify IF the workplace vote agreeing to the rise took place on or before his last day. It scuppered what should have been a peaceful wind-down, the vote finally took place on his very last day at work, and they agreed the offer. It wasn’t just that his back-dated pay rise was riding on this, it was also used to calculate his final salary pension.

pensionpawn

MorningcoffeeIV said:

pensionpawn said:

The employee in question, the rest of the department and probably the majority of the workforce were previously unaware of this morally bankrupt, though apparently perfectly legal, procedure.

I'd be surprised if your colleagues are as dense as you make them out to be.

I've had the very common clause of 'no payrise if serving notice' in most of my contracts and in not aware of it coming as a shock to any of my colleagues.

I don't believe I suggested that my colleagues are "dense"? In fact, most of the department have an engineering, science or maths degree (an employment contract detail that we did know about), with quite a few with PhD's thrown in for good measure. I've never left a job in the May - July period so I've never encountered this issue before. Certainly there's no correlation between one's level of education and what the HR department may spring on you!

strawb_shortcake

I work in the CS and after the recently announced £1500 COL payment the criteria is that you had to be in post 31st March 2023 and and you are still employed on payment date which is still to be confirmed. 

There have been several ways this payment has been considered unfair by colleagues. I'm yet to see a pay deal that everyone is happy with