To ask for your law knowledge

[Jurassiclover]

Hey guys,

Anyone with knowledge of laws etc please help!

I'll try to keep this short but basically just want some info on salary etc. So myself and a colleague have the same role and exact same job title. A few months back we realised she was earning less than me. Emailed the correct people and low and behold she got her pay rise - great. But now she's earning more than me.

We both fall in the same age category so wage difference is not to do with age.

I emailed the correct people again just to see if they could double check my salary (FWIW the difference isn't huge and ultimately if i cant get my salary reviewed then that's that and i'll be fine with it if that is the case). Now i'm being told that we are not allowed to discuss salaries and that even though we are in the same role we do not need to be paid the same. The way it works is we have a base salary and then a bonus - my work are claiming that as we get the same bonus our base salary does not need to match.

Does anyone know if this is legally correct? Can they enforce that we can't discuss our wages? Are they allowed to pay people in the same role different salaries?

Any help is appreciated and i am more than happy to accept if they are correct and i'm in the wrong! Have tried googling but most of the stuff is on gender gaps etc so not sure where i stand.

Thanks!

Are they allowed to pay people in the same role different salaries?
Yes, but subject to Minimum wage and anti-discrimination law. But in general there is absolutely no law saying you should get paid the same. We used to have Unions for this stuff but Thatcher and her pals put paid to that.

@hingeandbracket fab thank you. Yeah we're the same sex so it's not discrimination in that sense and we both get above minimum so it deffo meets minimum. Yeah that's the frustrating thing is that my work don't have a union or anything either so no one to ask!

Yes they can pay you differently. Does your colleague have more experience etc? Are they making the company more money?

@KitKat1985 she has been in the role slightly longer but our role doesn't really make money for the company in a sense so performance wise there's not a difference in that way - but she has been in the role slightly longer than me

FYI, there's a Legal Matters forum on here.

That's probably why then.

Certainly in the NHS where I am staff doing the same job role can earn different amount dependent on experience.

You don't have to be paid the same legally at all. There are lots of legitimate factors that can mean one person earns more than another in the same role.

@ThePants999 Ah, thank you! Relatively new so didn't even know!

@Doyoumind Okay thank you!

Just to add, there is nothing stopping you discussing salary with your colleagues. Many employers frown upon it but can't legally stop you, provided your colleague is also willing to have the conversation. You can't force a colleague to reveal their salary, but any contractual clauses banning discussion of salary are generally unenforceable. Additionally if you are in a union, salary discussions can be protected under collective bargaining rules.

It is perfectly legal unless you are of the opposite sex. If you are of the opposite sex and you can prove that the reason for you earning less is because of your sex (and not another valid and genuine reason), then you might have an equal pay claim.

I am a solicitor who specialises in equal pay law.

@katmarie Ah thank you! I definitely thought they couldn't stop us from discussing salary!

@kjhkj That's fab info, thank you so much

So where I work I often get salary queries from employees and have had people come to me with the same issue as you. I basically have to say that I am not allowed to discuss other employees salaries (so I’m not allowed to compare your to another employees in a conversation with you) but I wouldn’t be able to stop employees discussing their salaries with one another (although I don’t recommend it!)
We also pay people doing the same job different salaries sometimes but that’s the employees managers decision and is dependant on experience, years of service etc

Yeah they can do this. Everyone where I work gets a min to max wage depending on how long they’ve been there and grades. Sounds like it’s to do with her length of service?! Can you negotiate a yearly pay rise even if it’s a small amount yearly. How much longer has she been there than you?