RE:Employment Equality Act

matjay

Hi

I have a question about the employment equality act. I recently came across a folder that was not locked and was available to all to see. I came across it as I was looking for another folder.

My query is.....the folder I came across was the salaries of every employee in the company. I have seen that certain people are getting paid a lot more than I am, were as these people and myself do what is called "like work" as per the Employment Equality Act. and I can step in when needed should it become really busy.

Surly this is not right based on what I have read in this act !!!

Any input on this would be great

Thanks

Eoin

My first comment would be don't read documents like that. Very few people are happy when they find out what their peers earn compared to them. Also, it was an intrusion on your colleagues - whatever about the company allowing it to happen in the first place.

Anyway, there are a lot of factors that can determine someone's salary, and unless you're in the type of company that has strict salary bands where you know 100% that you should be on someone as the same grade as you, then there will be differences. Suppose they hired someone at the same level as you, who managed to negotiate a higher salary than you. A company won't then raise your salary to meet theirs.

Ray Palmer

Not uncommon for some people to be paid more. It is only an equality issue if any of the grounds of discrimination are used for salary differences.

Doing "like work" I take as you sometimes are doing part of some of the duties of other people but not all. In other words the other people still have more responsibilities hence normal to be paid more.

matjay

I should go into more detail here. I started as a General Operative, and after 6 months was promoted to manage half the operations of the Dept I work in. I have now been promoted to full management of my Dept. and have been for a while now The people that I am referring to as earning higher wages are people that have less responsibilities (in my opinion) than me. I know that may be my opinion but it is very bad for moral when you see the amount of work you do not be rewarded. The people earning more were yes in a higher position than me when I first started but now I would regard my status as Manager (which I am referred too) higher than them now and that is the reason for my original post, I just want to know my rights, on this situation.

I tried to negotiate a better wage for myself, but with the current climate I was told it was not possible (I feel this is used as an excuse)

I know I should have not looked at the document but curiosity got the better of me !!

Ray Palmer

matjay wrote: »

I should go into more detail here. I started as a General Operative, and after 6 months was promoted to manage half the operations of the Dept I work in. I have now been promoted to full management of my Dept. and have been for a while now The people that I am referring to as earning higher wages are people that have less responsibilities (in my opinion) than me. I know that may be my opinion but it is very bad for moral when you see the amount of work you do not be rewarded. The people earning more were yes in a higher position than me when I first started but now I would regard my status as Manager (which I am referred too) higher than them now and that is the reason for my original post, I just want to know my rights, on this situation.

I tried to negotiate a better wage for myself, but with the current climate I was told it was not possible (I feel this is used as an excuse)

I know I should have not looked at the document but curiosity got the better of me !!

It is only bad for moral because you looked at something you shouldn't have. In saying that the fact an unsecured document was left on a location you could see it is a breach of data protection by them.

You should bring it to their attention as you accidentally found it and noticed it contains protected information.

Are you saying you are managing people who are paid more than you? Do they have a grading system of employees?

matjay

Ray Palmer wrote: »

It is only bad for moral because you looked at something you shouldn't have. In saying that the fact an unsecured document was left on a location you could see it is a breach of data protection by them.

You should bring it to their attention as you accidentally found it and noticed it contains protected information.

Are you saying you are managing people who are paid more than you? Do they have a grading system of employees?

I would not say I am Managing these people, its just that I carry a lot lot more responsibility and more of a work load.
I have decided to look for another job, as there is a lot more to my frustration I have left out. I feel a new start is what I need I will let them know about the open folder ( I have not and will not tell anyone else) once I leave, because I have seen in the past here that upsetting the apple cart can make life even worse...

Thanks to all for your input

tricky D

The company can do this as long as it's not based on discriminatory factors.

There are plenty of legitimate factors which might have led to this situation. Once upon a time, in the dot com madness, I was hiring people with offered salaries a good bit above my own for recruits with far less experience and fewer skills. That was the way the market was at the time. Thankfully, I did get later manage to have the situation 'corrected'.

Pro Hoc Vice

matjay wrote: »

I should go into more detail here. I started as a General Operative, and after 6 months was promoted to manage half the operations of the Dept I work in. I have now been promoted to full management of my Dept. and have been for a while now The people that I am referring to as earning higher wages are people that have less responsibilities (in my opinion) than me. I know that may be my opinion but it is very bad for moral when you see the amount of work you do not be rewarded. The people earning more were yes in a higher position than me when I first started but now I would regard my status as Manager (which I am referred too) higher than them now and that is the reason for my original post, I just want to know my rights, on this situation.

I tried to negotiate a better wage for myself, but with the current climate I was told it was not possible (I feel this is used as an excuse)

I know I should have not looked at the document but curiosity got the better of me !!

Must get one thing clear before we go any further, it is legal to treat one employee better or worse than another. It only becomes illegal if that different treatment is because of one of the equality grounds. Let's look at the sex ground, say company a pays all cleaners €9 a hour and say it pays all janitors €15 per hour, let's say that the jobs they both do are like jobs, but let's just say the 100% of cleaners are women and 100% of janitors are men then the company are in the wrong. But let's say that the cleaners are 50/50 men and women and same with janitors, then unless there is another ground no issue.

So in simple terms a company can pay you what they want compared to others as long as there is no equality ground.

Ray Palmer

matjay wrote: »

I would not say I am Managing these people, its just that I carry a lot lot more responsibility and more of a work load.
I have decided to look for another job, as there is a lot more to my frustration I have left out. I feel a new start is what I need I will let them know about the open folder ( I have not and will not tell anyone else) once I leave, because I have seen in the past here that upsetting the apple cart can make life even worse...

Thanks to all for your input

I think that is probably the best move to make. Been in a similar situation and stayed and I still regret staying so long. A fresh start can make a huge difference.

A boss of mine accidentally sent out an e-mail to everybody in the team showing I earned the most. Created massive tension where none existed. Their solution was to try and cut my rate to keep people happy. They weren't happy at my counter suggestion they pay the others more so I simply left and got paid more and took two team members with me a few weeks later. I guess it kind of burnt bridges with that company but I built better bridges with the team and the new company which I still benefit from.

Fly the nest and soar high and good luck

matjay

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I think that is probably the best move to make. Been in a similar situation and stayed and I still regret staying so long. A fresh start can make a huge difference.

A boss of mine accidentally sent out an e-mail to everybody in the team showing I earned the most. Created massive tension where none existed. Their solution was to try and cut my rate to keep people happy. They weren't happy at my counter suggestion they pay the others more so I simply left and got paid more and took two team members with me a few weeks later. I guess it kind of burnt bridges with that company but I built better bridges with the team and the new company which I still benefit from.

Fly the nest and soar high and good luck

Thank you for all the input, it has actually helped me make up my mind. I like my job but with the situation the way it is. its time to look elsewhere, I have already looked into 2 positions, so fingers crossed,

Again thanks for the input everyone