Employer changing pay rate

OneOfThem Stumbled

Hi,

I'd like some advise in relation to the following. I'm a part-time public servant, with an annual contract. The public-servant bit is important.

The body that I work for is a bit odd, in that you have to obtain separate contracts to work in different departments within the same body (even if the job is exactly the same).

I've actually worked in this body since 2009 (which yes, I know entitles me to a contract of indefinite duration, but I've not explored that, nor do I have any particular desire to do so right at the moment). Back in 2009 I worked as a lowly tutor for the body in question, a position that I kept up for quite a while, on and off.

Because I entered the public service in 2009 I didn't experience the 10% cut to pay rates experienced by people after 2011. For the last few years I've been working in a more senior teaching role, with a higher pay rate than tutor. However I've recently changed department and the body is saying that my pay rate will be cut by 10% going forward. When querying this I was initially told that I'm entitled to the pay rate that I have been receiving for the last few years, only to have this subsequently retracted and told that, in no uncertain terms, that my pay rate will henceforth be 10% less.

Looking at the legislation that governs this, the language is a bit vague, but it states that if you are performing the same kind of task in the public service as you performed before 2011, regardless of pay rate, that you should be able to avoid the 'new entrant' rate. For instance if you work as a primary school teacher in 2009, and become a secondary school teacher in 2018, you aren't a new entrant. Same idea if you become a principal - because you are still working in a teaching role. If you became a police officer that would probably be a different story though.

I'm not really sure who to turn to in relation to this. I do want to get paid, and I know that by not accepting this that I'll have a delay in my pay checks. My last pay check, last month, was in a different department, and that work has now concluded.

Mrs OBumble

Turn to your union in the first instance.