Work contract question

[WildSkitty]

If I have signed a contract that mentions a particular salary on it, but then I find out that other people doing the same job are paid a different salary, can I try and negotiate my salary, or is it too late if I've already signed a contract?

Just bumping in case anyone can help.

You could try, but I don’t think it would give them a good first impression of you. They obviously offered you the lower salary for a reason.

Hmm, depends why they’re on a different salary. Do they have scales that increase yearly?

You should ask.

What sort of role is it? Is it the exact same role? Have those people been there longer and had pay rises? Not enough information to advice here.

It's a completely new role that only got set up in the last few months. Our union rep got involved to negotiate pay, and the company agreed to pay the negotiated rate, but they are still saying to me that as I've got a signed contract, I should be paid what's on the contract, even though others are being paid at the new negotiated rate.

Yes, it's the exact same role.

To be honest it doesn’t matter what salary others have; you’re all individuals with different histories, experiences etc. You can’t go to your boss and say “well X is getting Y so I should be as well”.

The time to negotiate the salary was before you signed the contract.
Maybe at your annual review you could ask for a payrise but probably not now.

You can of course go to your boss and ask for the same salary as others but your negotiating position is extremely weak given it’s not an easy time to find a new role. Do you have a protected characteristic that the new recruits being paid more highly do not - if so that could be a discussion point.

You could try, however, they offered you a salary, and you accepted it.

unless you can prove it was discriminatory, you probably wont have much luck unless you can show why you deserve to be paid more than you are currently paid

I would speak to your union again in that case

Are you in the union?

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Are you in the union?

Yes.