Equal Pay

[pawlik]

Hello All

A few weeks ago I raised a grievance against my employer for equal pay as I am working with a colleague who gets paid £9000 more than I do for doing the same job as myself. I am aware of this information after my colleague told me how much they earns a few weeks ago.

A HR manager spoke to me today to tell me that my colleague who is the opposite sex gets more pay as they have a longer length of service around 20 years more than me and their incremental pay rises over this period explains the difference of pay.

I was also informed that my colleague is a different grade to myself so they cannot be a comparator. We do exactly the same role within the department however they have a different grade due to their age as it no longer exists and any new to the role will be the same grade as myself.

Does the above sound correct? I think my manager and HR are trying to resolve this informally.

[ULA]

Re: Equal Pay

Hi and welcome to the forum.

In regard to equal pay employers must pay men and women equally if they are doing 'like work', which is work that's the same or broadly similar; or work that's of equal value e.g. effort, skill or other demands; or work that's rated as equivalent under a job evaluation study that many companies have in place. However if an employer can show that there's a genuine reason for any difference in pay that's not based on the sex of the individual, then the equal pay legislation may not apply.

Length of service is one that is commonly used because it is generally believed that the longer the service is the more likelihood there is that the individual will be more experienced at the job. On this basis having more experience can be an allowed justification for someone being paid more than a less experienced person doing similar work. However experience cannot be put forward as an excuse for pay inequality in every situation. If there is 'serious doubt' that it's appropriate to justify a pay gap on length of service, then an employer has to show that it goes together with experience and that experience enables the worker to perform duties better.

So it would seem your employer is using the experience due to length of service as being the justification for the difference on pay rates.

[pawlik]

Re: Equal Pay

Hi and welcome to the forum.

In regard to equal pay employers must pay men and women equally if they are doing 'like work', which is work that's the same or broadly similar; or work that's of equal value e.g. effort, skill or other demands; or work that's rated as equivalent under a job evaluation study that many companies have in place. However if an employer can show that there's a genuine reason for any difference in pay that's not based on the sex of the individual, then the equal pay legislation may not apply.

Length of service is one that is commonly used because it is generally believed that the longer the service is the more likelihood there is that the individual will be more experienced at the job. On this basis having more experience can be an allowed justification for someone being paid more than a less experienced person doing similar work. However experience cannot be put forward as an excuse for pay inequality in every situation. If there is 'serious doubt' that it's appropriate to justify a pay gap on length of service, then an employer has to show that it goes together with experience and that experience enables the worker to perform duties better.

So it would seem your employer is using the experience due to length of service as being the justification for the difference on pay rates.

Thanks for your response. Would length of service still justify the large pay gap? I can understand a few thousand pounds but £9000 seems excessive

[ULA]

Re: Equal Pay

From what you say this other individual has 20 years more service than you which is quite a long time and may well, with incremental rises and maybe changes in grading structures and salary bands, means that the company feels they can justify a pay gap based on service. However if you feel there is "serious doubt" about the employer being able to justify such a gap then they would need to show that the length of service goes together with experience and consequently the person can undertaken the duties better thereby justifying this level of pay gap.

Practically at the moment there are some possible courses of action you can take if you want to pursue the matter. If you feel there is "serious doubt" either speak to the HR Manager or you should have been given the opportunity to appeal the outcome of the grievance in which case you can follow the process set out for raising an appeal. If you are a member of a work Union you may also want to speak to your rep about the issue.