Sexual discrimination?

[tiaposy]

HiI have worked in a job for 7 months. It is in the motor trade and i have 20yrs experience.The guy I worked with has now left and when he left I asked him what money he was on as I know my pay was low.I was shocked to find out he was on £6k a year more than me! I was constantly told how useless he was too!I have been told they are looking into my pay, but my question is, can I point out that I know what he was on and ask why that was? I wasn't expecting that sort of money, just a fair wage for all the hours I do - at least 45 per week & some saturdays.Thansk

[papasmurf1cx]

To be clear you are female and the other was male. You were doing the same job or one comparable? What do you want to achieve?

[tiaposy]

To be clear you are female and the other was male. You were doing the same job or one comparable? What do you want to achieve?

Yes that's correct. Apparently he was senior to me but they want me to now do his role. I guess I'm just scared of asking for a fair pay rise!!

[papasmurf1cx]

You need 'steel' and stand up for yourself. if you don't think that you can do this verbally, and in any case these things are better done in writing, you should prepare a letter stating what you would like and why you want it. "Going forward you have evidence that there was a disparaging gap between the pay for Female v Male employees. You have no desire to cause offence or trouble but that you would want to address this inequality in these pay negotiations" See how that or words along those lines go down.

 

The problem being that if there is a discrimination going on you either have to fight it or walk away. Sometime both. The good thing is that you have only been there 7 months so not much is lost at this stage.

[ErikaPNP]

It's possible that he was at the higher end of his pay scale if he was there for longer than you. In a lot of jobs these days, there are pay scales where new members of staff start at the bottom and work their way up to the top of the scale with yearly increases. My co-worker earns £4000 more per annum than I do, for the same job and the same hours. That person has been in the role for 16 years longer than I have and is at the top of his scale, even though in my opinion, I could train a dog to do the job better than him. I, and indeed others that haven't been there as long as him know far more about the job than he does, despite his lengthly service. It's grossly unfair as time served does not always mean that the person is competent. I'm in the middle of my scale, anyone new that comes in will be at the bottom of the payscale. It's nothing to do with gender, but to do with length of service.

[becky2585]

It is possible that its discriminatory, as there is equal pay legislation now written into the Equality Act. Clauses in contracts stating employees cannot discuss their salaries are now not valid for the purpose of calculating whether your salaries are equal.

 

If it is done on a payscale and you have only been with the company 7 months, then it could still be fair. What was his length of service?

[tiaposy]

He was only here a year in total. There are NO pay scales in this company I can assure you! To be honest I have more experience than him.I just know they will try and fob me off. I will put something in writing then and see what happens. Thanks for your answers. Happy Christmas to you all!

[papasmurf1cx]

If they fob you off, then you need to put in a grievance alleging sex discrimination immediately.

[Marieleeza]

He was only here a year in total. There are NO pay scales in this company I can assure you! To be honest I have more experience than him.I just know they will try and fob me off. I will put something in writing then and see what happens. Thanks for your answers. Happy Christmas to you all!

I would not be keen to go the formal grievance route as you have a good relationship with your employer and are up for promotion.

 

However, I do feel that you have an equal pay claim. With equal pay or equal access to promotion or training opportunities, I think it is important to pick a counterpart of the opposite sex and peg your progress or wages against theirs.

 

For example, Mr B started a year later than me, he has the same skills and does the same work but he is getting more money/ training and is overall doing better than me. I think the man whose shoes you are about to fill is a fitting counterpart.

 

I brought this up informally and it worked for me.

[papasmurf1cx]

By raising the issue at all is in effect raising a stage 1 grievance. Issuing a 'formal' grievance is when the informality of the first approach has been stalled or not dealt with. It is a matter for you to judge how discriminatory they are being. The point about raising the formal grievance is that you are protecting your legal position and directly challenging the illegality of it. If you don't intend to make a stand against this but comply with management and their decisions then perhaps it would be better to keep your head down. The grievance route is very stressful and may ultimately mean you lose that particular job. This is because positions become entrenched and only are resolved by legal action in the Employment Tribunal. It does ultimately come down to how p**sed off you get with the company.