salary underpayment Help please!!

dixseptans

I need some advice please guys….
bit of background, Uni Graduate working in a large private company for the last 12 years, I recently discovered (5 montha ago) when checking holiday days left that I am not being paid the correct salary for my position, on further investigation I discovered that I have been under paid for the last 7 years or so.
When I broached the subject with our HR dept they are basically trying to fob me off but I have spoken to colleagues and past employees who have been able to give me information on Pay scales and skills payments and service increments which I am not receiving.

I am due to meet the head of our HR department again this week and while I feel I have all the relevant information to back up my claim, what can I actually hope to gain from this? Will I end up going to the Labour Court ?
If I can prove my case can I expect a certain level of recompense for the underpayment of salary for the last number of years.
All input greatly appreciated, thanks

xabi

Do you have a contract that states your salary and benefits?

Stheno

Given its a private company have you checked what your contract says about all of the above?

Zillah

Are you underpaid according to the salary you agreed to, or are you underpaid according to what you would expect for your role?

If the former, they owe you the money, no question.
If the latter, you've not a leg to stand on. You get what you agree to; other people's salaries are irrelevant.

Mrs OBumble

Why are they doing this? Can you prove that it's because you are female / black / traveller / disabled-person / single-person?

Or was it because the employment market was shyte in 2009, so they were able to hire you far more cheaply than usual because there were so many people looking for jobs - and thus placed you lower than the usual salary scale to start with and you've stayed on this lower scale ever since.

If the latter, then I do not think you have a case. And the only way to fix it it to get a job in another company.

livedadream

dixseptans wrote: »

I need some advice please guys….
bit of background, Uni Graduate working in a large private company for the last 12 years, I recently discovered (5 montha ago) when checking holiday days left that I am not being paid the correct salary for my position, on further investigation I discovered that I have been under paid for the last 7 years or so.
When I broached the subject with our HR dept they are basically trying to fob me off but I have spoken to colleagues and past employees who have been able to give me information on Pay scales and skills payments and service increments which I am not receiving.

I am due to meet the head of our HR department again this week and while I feel I have all the relevant information to back up my claim, what can I actually hope to gain from this? Will I end up going to the Labour Court ?
If I can prove my case can I expect a certain level of recompense for the underpayment of salary for the last number of years.
All input greatly appreciated, thanks

Can you clarifiy?

Are you underpaid based on your agree salary (as per your contract)

or are you underpaid based on an agreed increment scale (as per your contract)

or are you underpaid based on what your colleagues are paid?

dixseptans

livedadream wrote: »

Can you clarifiy?

Are you underpaid based on your agree salary (as per your contract)

or are you underpaid based on an agreed increment scale (as per your contract)

or are you underpaid based on what your colleagues are paid?

Hi guys thanks for your input, yes you've hit the nail on the head liveadream...sorry i was a bit vague. I am underpaid based on an agreed increment scale as per my contract.

Ill give you a quick example, I was promoted to a more senior position last year and the person who got my old job got a salary bump and an increase(increment) in January of this year.
I have not received any increments in 7 years, which i am contractually entitled to.

Now i did get the appropriate increase in basic pay that my new job warranted but i have not received an incremental payment in 7 years(sorry im repeating myself here)

livedadream

dixseptans wrote: »

Hi guys thanks for your input, yes you've hit the nail on the head liveadream...sorry i was a bit vague. I am underpaid based on an agreed increment scale as per my contract.

Ill give you a quick example, I was promoted to a more senior position last year and the person who got my old job got a salary bump and an increase(increment) in January of this year.
I have not received any increments in 7 years, which i am contractually entitled to.

Now i did get the appropriate increase in basic pay that my new job warranted but i have not received an incremental payment in 7 years(sorry im repeating myself here)

oh perfect,
okay so there are a few options, speak to your HR team and see what the issue is, were you supposed to approach them re the increment?

was your manager supposed to approach them re the increment?

was it to happen automatically after a time frame and did they just forget?

is the increment based on performance and has your manager advised them you are hitting targets or not hitting therefore effecting payment.

this can go one of three ways, they apologise and start paying you your current entitlement as agreed contractually

they ask you why it took you seven years to figure it out and say either:
they will start paying you your increments from now on (expected)
or that they will back pay you (rare, very very rare)
or that there was a pay freeze you somehow missed (again rare).

the fact that it has taken you seven years to figure out doesnt stand to you.

if they say it was their error and someone just didnt submit the paperwork yes its bad however they can argue that you also have a duty to report errors and it has been so long that the back payment of the outstanding amount could have a negative effect on the company.

In general this sounds like your managers issue, from experience in these issues its that the manger hasnt reported back that you are due an increment.