Secondment Pay in a Job

AdCol123

Hi guys and girls, I'm a 31 yo male I currently work at a very popular logistics company in the UK. I have been here for over 2 years now. I started as an operative and got into a secondment role as an administrator, of which I have been in the admin position now for 9 months. So in December 2022 my wages slightly increased per hour to the same as what the full time admins were on, £10.91ph. In April 2023 operatives and admin gained a pay rise, operatives £11.39, admin £11.35, however my pay did not increase. I have put forward an informal grievance to my line manager who took it to his manager, who then took it to his manager(general site manager). The answer I got, was they're looking into it. Which they have been doing since April, I am now awaiting a formal grievance meeting to see if I can get an answer or better yet the same equal pay. I work 40.5 hours per week compared to 37.5 for operatives. This month, September, admins and operatives are due another pay rise, with no light shed on my wage. Where do I stand with this, would there be a reason as to why? Is it because I am secondment? Other admins on secondment that came into the role after April have the starting wage per hour of £11.35. Is a tribunal the route to take? Thank you for reading.

Brie

Typical HR mess if you ask me.  Managers generally don't know much about how pay rises are supposed to be managed and rely on someone in HR who may not know either.  In my opinion your pay should have gone up at the same time as the others unless there's some restrictive clause in your secondment contract (which I think would be considered unfair.)

I'd continue to push for the grievance meeting - face it, you're the only one for whom it is a priority.  While you're waiting for this to happen talk to your union rep or join the union if you haven't already.  If there's not a known union within the company you might talk to Unite as they are pretty much everywhere with admin roles.  I would think a nice polite query from a union would motivate both managers and HR properly.

Another solution would be to ask for the secondment to end and go back to being an operative given that they appear to have the higher wage now.  Might mean you don't get the increase on back pay though.