Can a company pay me less for a higher job?

Dark Phoenix

I have worked in a company for a number of years and have held several positions in those years. Over the past year I received a new title and a very small raise for that. A few months ago I was approached by one of the head people in the business about a new role during a time when the company was under going a lot of change (hence the reason this new role came up). I agreed to the new role under the condition that I would not earn any less than I did in my current role which included commissions and the person in question agreed to this. (new role would not be commission based)

I was advised by the company that for any of us with new roles we would not get our new contracts until the end of the companies year end. In the interim they agreed to pay me my current wages plus the OTE of the the commission I was on (I used to actually earn on more but agreed to this). I got my new contract last week and while they have agreed they will roll up my commission - they have not. They have rolled up approx 80% of it which would mean that I would, if I signed this, be less well off than I was last month, since I took the job and last year. They are trying to get round this by offering a performance based bonus scheme and by telling me that as I have always performed well that this bonus will 'top up my base pay to what it would have been' where as I would argue that a bonus should not be used as a reason to pay me less as they are essentially punishing me for doing well and are never guaranteeing any bonuses either. Surely a bonus should be on top of not instead of part of your base salary.

I have a meeting shortly to discuss so would really appreciate any advice. I was unsure as to whether I can contact nera to get advice on this? I have not yet signed the contract as i cant sign something that basically says I get paid less. Bear in mind the new role came with a huge amount of extra responsibilty and would be a much higher title too so it seems madness to earn less doing it. I am unsure if the hiring manager is aware of what I am being offered. if the meeting goes as I suspect and they refuse to budge my next steps would be to approach them to discuss as it was they I agreed it with.

Mrs OBumble

In general, yes, it is possible to be offered less for a higher role.

This can happen to people like you who were getting commission, or to people who were getting shift allowances and the like, and who move to a regular job. Or to people who manage highly paid or specialist individuals, where can happen that the (highly replaceable) non-specialist manager makes less that the (hard to replace) specialist.

The questions you need to weigh up include:

What are the chances of you not makign your commission in a month?
What are the other benefits that come with the new job - including possible career progression, nicer work, training and development, hours of work, etc?

Saying that you cannot accept a job that pays less is nonsense - you don't want to, but people do it all the time for all sorts of reasons.

Dark Phoenix

thanks for the advice and info.

Yes its correct that I don't want to sign it. The new role is career progression which is great but to me that's not more important than money and for that exact reason I agreed with the hiring manager that I would not earn any less, after all they approached me about the new job.

the new job is more responsibility. Its possibly more hours but I don't mind that I will and always do work hard for what I earn. In terms of the chances of me not making commission I averaged 120 - 150% so that was never an issue for me in previous role.

Would a verbal agreement with the hiring manager not count for anything here?

Diziet

The verbal agreement is important, as is the fact that they have paid the higher rate till now. I would negotiate and push; no need to get legal at all, but I think a bit of a puch on your part would bring the required result. Especialy as they are paying you the higher rate now.

Dark Phoenix

Thanks I hope so. That's exactly it they have paid me that up to now so it makes no sense to try and make me take less - if I sign this I will immediately get less than I did last month for the same job.

They will try and palm me off with a bonus but sure I may or may not get that bonus and surely if I did get it then it should be extra for a job well done and not an excuse to lower what i get each month. The bonus is very small and would never be a guaranteed.

Bandana boy

Surely your commision was not guaranteed either ,so this is a raise in basic pay with a different bonus structure.
Is your bonus related to your performance or the companies (probably both)

Sounds like a no brainer to me plus you also get on a different ladder whith a much higher reach than your current ladder

Dark Phoenix

The bonus scheme wont pay a penny til over a year from now and even then would not cover what ive lost in pay in the meantime. As for reach sadly thats not the case from what I can see.
Commission was not guaranteed yes I know but I was over achieving and only took the role in question after verbally agreeing it would not negatively impact me financially.

Stheno

Nothing you can do from a legal perspective, happened to me when I moved from a role that paid a 25% shift allowance to one that was 9-5 and more senior.

Commission etc are not considered part of core pay