I didn't get a cost of living increase

[Spottymoocow]

AIBU to be so annoyed by this..

I work for a small business, I do admin. With the minimum wage going up a couple of staff were going to be below the new hike, so everybody has been put to a baseline wage per hour.

I was first of all told I would be getting X per hour (the new baseline) which I had to correct my boss that I am already over this amount. For context I work reduced hours but my salary reflects this, they had thought for some reason at the time of pay review my salary was for full time.

My boss then came back and stated sorry actually you're already on 'considerably more' it wouldn't be fair to give you more as it will only widen the pay gap.

I am not a confrontational person and I find these things really hard to deal with but I did verbally speak to my boss (previous interactions above were on teams chat) and told them how unhappy I was and how it made me feel devalued etc.

I am the only one who now didn't get the cost of living increase (but all employees think everybody got one)

AIBU to think this it's extremely unfair / very shitty. And wtf am I meant to do about it!!

Do you do the same job as people getting a rise? Essentially though it isn't a payrise, their wage legally must increase, it's not performance based, your employer can't not do it.

Oh a side note, I don't think everybody is on the new baseline, I think some are and I have a feeling some are over it as they were already very close to it. For context I am now 60p over this baseline.

Not everybody needed this rise though I only know of one person who was going to be below the new rise. everybody in the company got a 'cost of living increase', management etc got a % and they are all well over minimum wage.

Do you mean some staff were on around £10ph, new rate is £10.43, company says everyone is going up to £10.50, and you're upset because you're already on £11.10, for example?

I'm in the same position. Negotiated my pay on the basis that I would be included in the cost of living pay rise this year. Now been told that they are reneging on that.

You haven’t explained it very clearly, but what I’ve got from your posts:

Some staff were below the new minimum. The company decided to give everyone a “cost of living rise” of x%, which would have taken the lower paid staff above the minimum.

All staff except you got the raise, even those who were on substantially more than minimum wage.

The excuse management gave you for not giving you a raise was that giving you x% more would have meant you were paid significantly more than the lower paid staff, and that wasn’t fair.

Is that right?

Presumably you were paid significantly more than the lower paid staff before the raise came in. So presumably you do a more skilled job?

If so, YANBU.

You’ve tried speaking to them, I assume you aren’t in a union, so likely your only recourse is to look for another job.

If everyone else who does your job or was paid around the same as you who did get a raise is male when you are female you could consider making a discrimination claim. But you’d need comparators that you could make a sound case with, which can be tricky to get.

Yabu their pay has to be increased. Your post does not make sense. You don't fall in to the cost of living increase as your pay is above the minimum amount. How can you be upset at getting paid considerably more than your colleagues. You could contact ACAS but they will just tell you this.

If you know for sure that more senior people got a pay rise then you should raise that and say that you not getting a pay rise might narrow the gap between you and those on minimum wage but it increases the gap between you and management and is unfair to boot. It sounds like they made an admin error that they're trying to retrospectively justify.

I believe if there is a cost of living payment/increase in salary (rather than performance related pay increase) everyone should get it.

That's what my organisation did: everyone got 5% increase and a few people who were on the lowest salaries (below £25K full time equivalent) got 6%. Everyone thought that was fair.

Getting nothing at all means that with inflation and everything going up you are technically getting a pay cut every year.

I would try to negotiate your increase or start looking for another job.

Employers who don't do anything to reflect the cost of living crisis will start seeing staff jumping ship.

If you are treated less favourably because you are part-time, you can claim that you are discriminated against as part-time employees should not be treated less favouribly than full-time ones.

Managed to lock myself out of my other account!

Sorry I am a professional rambler, let me try clear some things up.

I was brought in on my contracted salary as is at the moment, based off experience. I did not realise there were other admin staff on less than me. The considerable amount more that I am on, which management have related to is 60p per hour (which please don't get me wrong I am very very grateful to be on this).

Some admin are on more than the new living wage even before the increase and some were on less. Not all admin salaries are equal but I get the impression they are trying to work towards everybody being on the same. Everybody in my company got an increase except for me, the new living wage triggered this as some, by law, needed an increase. Management has sent out a lovely sweet message to everybody on the teams channel saying everybody was getting an increase to help with the cost of living.

The mistake was made with my pay and now I am no longer getting one as they feel it would only mean I am on too much more than some of my colleagues.

Again I can be very grateful that I am on more, but I can feel unfairly treated because I am the only one within my company who got no increase.

Hope that clears it up abit!

I know this sounds really really harsh but normally if people aren't happy / paid too little - they look for another job.

If your boss wanted you to stay they would have reviewed your salary. Maybe they're thinking you'd leave and your replacement would be cheaper. Sadly this happened to my colleague just last week!

She left her £25k Pro Rata role. Jer replacement job advert is for £22k Pro Rata and they've had 100s of applicants.

Very difficult (and awkward!)

And most of the new applicants have all the experience / qualifications needed for the role. So theyre good quality applicants despite lower salary!

It sucks OP. Time to find a new job with people who appreciate and value you

You really haven’t given enough info.

Do other people do a similar job to you and you are already being paid more than them?

Did you get any increase? What percentage did you get?

You need to clarify if you are paid hourly wages or a salary. And if this is typical for your company.

How many hours do you work

Do they think they have paid you a full time salary for part time hours?

You need to explain this more clearly.

Also what is the baseline salary? Is this a company minimum wage and is it the same a national minimum wage or living wage?

So basically the minimum wage has gone up so there hourly rate has crept up nearer yous

Unfortunately, I think 'not getting a payrise' is common in many organisations. If getting regular pay increases is important, you should consider regularly switching jobs. For example, every 3-4 years.

I don't think it's fair that people above minimum wage do not get a pay rise. Especially with the high inflation we're dealing with. But you can't force your employer to give you a rise. Start interviewing elsewhere, get a better offer from another company (take it to your employer and see if they can match) and be prepared to take it.