AIBU to be furious that Jnr colleugue's salary now exceeds mine? discrimination?!

[WhatTheActualBeep]

To give some background/context here: I have a decade of experience in my field. My current company was taken over by a much larger company in 2020. This same year I fell pregnant and took a year of maternity leave. Just before my leave, I hired an Assistant that supported me and the Director within my team. My maternity cover didn't work out, and whilst I was away, the Director decided to give some of my duties to this Assistant, whilst covering the remainder of my role themselves.

During my leave, the company was taken over, the Director was made redundant and the Assistant was given the same title as me (no Assistant role existed in the bigger company). Their salary was increased, but still approx 10k below my own.

Fast forward, and I return from maternity, the role I return to is vastly different,
the same title but much of the responsibility/seniority removed. 6 months later
the team gets a new Manager who becomes very buddy-buddy with the Assistant andother team members, and doesn't bother getting to know the team, their experience and work history etc.

I take another period of maternity, and return to find out that the 'Assistant'
has received an 18.5% salary increase, and their salary now exceeds my own (not
my much, but still), and they received a bonus of 15% salary, whilst I, on
maternity, got a 6% increase and a 7% bonus. I have never, in 10 years had a
bonus this low and chalk this up to not being in the 'in crowd' with this manager.

The Assistant has half a decade of experience less than me, does not outperform me in any way (whilst we have the same title, there are many aspects of the role
they are inexperienced in, and these tasks fall to me).

In a recent conversation with the manager, I learned that they have no knowledge of the fact that I actually hired the Assistant in my previous company, they used to report to me, and I have 5 years more experience than them! the VP
actually said 'oh really? I thought you were doing the same role at X company'
when this came up in conversation. Is this not the first thing you do as a new
manager - check out your team's skill-set, strengths and experience?

It's worth mentioning, that whilst I have had two DC, this Assistant has been VERY vocal about their views on motherhood, how they want to ‘live life for themselves’ and don’t ever want children.

I am seeing red about this whole situation. I was effectively demoted on return
from 1st maternity leave to a more junior role and got a whole new team, and
now this junior colleague’s salary is higher than my own despite my experience
exceeding theirs by 5 YEARS. I need to raise the bonus issue with my manager
anyway, as I didn't want to deal with that on maternity but AIBU about the
salary issue?!

How do I even raise this?!

Put in perspective from another woman's pov:
"I have been in my current role 5 years. During that time one of the team has been on mat leave twice, and I stepped up and took on more responsibility when her cover failed. I have been working flat-out, and navigated the transition when the company was bought-out and we lost our manager while the colleague was still away, performing to a level where the new manager has observed my hard work and abilities; and I have recently been promoted. For some reason my old team-mate is unable to congratulate me, even though she has herself had a pay rise and a bonus during this time (when many in the uk have had no pay rises at all) and has not personally lost out by my promotion. AIBU to feel sad that my old mentor can't find it in herself to say 'well done'?"

What are the terms of your bonus scheme OP? Places I've worked have had part for everybody-based on overall company performance- and part tailored & scored based on meeting personal objectives.

If it's the year between children that you had your lowest ever bonus, did you get a clear scoring for how your bonus was calculated. Did you work for 100% of the bonus period? (any brought forward leave, unpaid parental leave or sick leave could reasonably reduce the % of any team or company element you are awarded, as well as your personal element, without being discriminatory). Were you putting less effort into meeting your personal targets than in previous periods? Again, it's not discriminatory to award less if you're heading out the door on the dot of 5pm every day to collect your firstborn from childcare, if that means you were actually doing a bit less 'extra' towards those goals than you did pre-children.

Annual bonuses are exactly that-they reflect the extra effort above basic salary expectations of doing the job well enough to keep it, in any given year. I have friends-both male and female-who have opted to either ease back or smash it out of the park with effort for their bonus targets in any given year. It's reasonable that your percentage might not be a constant.

By all means challenge your salary and the method of calculating/scoring your bonus. But you've had 2 years out of the workplace. Jump back in, find out more about what this manager wants. Ensure your bonus targets are aligned heavily with their pet project/their own targets etc, and by all means flag when you are picking up tasks due to the lack of skills of your (same seniority band) colleague.

Harping back to what was - 4 years ago! - won't do you any favours at all. You need to demonstrate you provide better value than your colleague right here, right now, if you want your salary to be reset in excess of hers.

Don't go in making it look like you feel you have some god-given right to be paid more because you hired her in the first place, it will play very badly!

Good luck in your negotiations...

I think you are being unreasonable. You have had two periods of maternity leave in the space of three years and in that time your colleague has climbed the ladder and negotiated better salary. This happens, I had 3 periods of maternity leave from 2015 to 2019 and in that time lots of colleagues were progressing. When you bear children your life goes on hold. However, you are legally entitled to return to the same job and pay, if not better, than when you left. So you should not have had your role change or become demoted.

You should not have gone back to a job that was essentially a demotion. You would've been entitled to a job equal or better if your job changed significantly whilst you were on maternity leave. You now need to work on promoting yourself within the Company and not comparing yourself to a colleague.

I fully understood what you wrote!

Well said.

I don’t think the OP is coming back to her thread somehow.

The answers on here show you exactly what the issue with todays society is!

they want to pay you for the time you do a job in.

BUT!

They should not pay you for the 10 mins it takes you to do the job in but the YEARS of experience that allow you to do it in 10 mins not 2 hours!

Also pay rises need to be the same for all on the same level. And I bet the she wasn’t promoted but made out to the new boss that that was her job all along.

and the OP does have a case for discrimination as she was demoted during May leave!

and I hope to god she tells the little grifter to do the jobs she tries to keep pawning off on her themselves!

it’s not her job to do someone else job for less pay

The Otger persons wage was brought in line with Ops. There was seemingly no issue when op earned more.

Pay rises do not need to be across the board especially when someone has been doing a role for several years getting paid substantially less than their peers.

There’s actually no proof Op was demoted. She had the same title at the same level. How Op perceived ‘less seniority’ isn’t clear. If she feels it less senior because her colleague was now doing it, as well, that’s not discrimination. Roles and responsibilities can change.

It impossible to say if there’s a definite case.

What can change can happen also depends how long Op was off. Besides which Op was quite happy with the role as long as she got paid more. She also accepted the new role at the end of her first mat leave that started in 2022 so I assume she was back during 2021. Op says ‘essentially demoted’ we have no idea what that actually means.

Again it’s not clear about what work the Op is picking up. She says ‘this work falls to me’. It’s not unusual in a team of managers to have each responsible for different things or areas.

Funny how you are ok with Op being the one earning more but are so annoyed about someone doing the same job as Op getting paid the same as Op. Op says it’s more but by a very small amount.

Op is ‘seeing red’ over this situation because she still perceives the person as Junior. They aren’t. Ops point if view on this whole situation is through the lense of ‘this person is junior to me’ when in fact they aren’t. Op isn’t able to look this from an objective point of view. The fact that she still thinks this person is junior, shows that.

It's worth mentioning, that whilst I have had two DC, this Assistant has been VERY vocal about their views on motherhood, how they want to ‘live life for themselves’ and don’t ever want children.

Why is this worth mentioning, exactly?

It's an awful situation to be in but at the end of the day you've spent the last few years focusing on having kids while this person has been growing her career. For most women your career will take a knock 🤷‍♀️ you can recover. Stop comparing yourself to the assistant now, length of time doing the job isn't important (and borders on age discrimination by yourself) it's about how good you are and how you market yourself. Why do the harder bits of her job for her, let her do all parts herself and don't cover for her for a start.

Meant to add, you can’t expect colleagues not to progress, or to be held back, while you are on maternity leave.

You'd be out of time to bring a tribunal case now by the way 🤷‍♀️

Just because your career effectively paused while you were on maternity leave it doesn’t mean everyone else’s did. A lot happened in the 2 years you were away: your old Director left, new company took over, new team and new dynamics. In your absence your ex-assistant handled challenges, leveraged opportunities and took on more responsibilities which seem to have been appropriately rewarded with a promotion and salary increase. Unfortunately this is the trade off when women take extended maternity leave - the business moves on. This is why you’re entitled to return to the same role (not an automatic promotion) as before you left: which you have. The ex-assistant has just risen in the ranks while you were away. They are not your junior or assistant anymore and you need to find a way to stop thinking of them as such. I think YABU to be furious that the ex-assistant has progressed, they’ve had 2 years more directly relevant experience than you. If you feel you’re being underpaid you should have objective, concrete evidence to back this up (ideally your own work or contributions, or be able to demonstrate how you’ve gone beyond your ToR etc.), not just that you’ve been there longer than someone else. Also: given you’ve been away a while it’s natural that a new manager will have a closer relationship or easier rapport with the team who’ve been there longer. Take time to develop a relationship with your new manager and the new team. Good luck!

And whilst you have spent 2 years out of work on maternity, this other colleague has had chance to shine and progress in his career. You might have 5 years more experience than him, but experience doesn't always mean better.

I'm sorry, but I agree with this, years in the job doesn't automatically make you better, in fact I find it can usually be worse as people end up stuck in their roles and don't have fresh ideas. You've also been away for two years. Obviously worth having a conversation with your manager about, but focus on you and what you bring, not on the other person. And also it's crap, but men often do get paid more even if they're not as good been there so many times.

I also agree with others to stop referring to them as your assistant or that you hired them. If the roles were reversed, you'd come across as incredibly sexist. If this person is good at their job then you're being incredible patronising and quite rude

I'm going to adress this from the position of the junior. I work with someone who has 20 years more experience then me ( mostly in a different workplace). When he came to work at my current workplace I was a junior in the process of going through promotion. I was promoted within months of him being there. We are on the same pay scale. From the day he started and even now 3 years down the line he regularly talks down to me and implies I'm his junior despite being on the same pay scale and having the same level of responsibility. This behaviour hasn't helped him progress.

This guy is not your junior he is someone doing the same job as you. Absolutely ask how salary increases were calculated however please stop referring to this guy as your junior.

Also this isn’t just a choice between having kids or not. You also have a choice on how much maternity leave you take - you maxed out your entitlement. You could’ve taken less leave (I only took 3 months) or could’ve perhaps done part-time (I know many women who do this). All these choices have consequences on your career and family life, there is no one right answer. Whatever choice is made you need to own the consequences - in this case taking 2 years off at the expense of career progression.

I was demoted whilst pregnant (in terms of responsibility not pay or title) and so was a colleague who was on maternity leave. She is going to an employment tribunal and I resigned because I find juggling work and motherhood difficult enough. I think it’s better for mental health to change jobs rather than reminisce for the one you used to have.

The issue is not just two maternities close together, it is the op took two extended maternities, which allows the company to change responsibilities if you go over 26 in any given one, as simply they are allowed to reorganise to meet the business needs. In addition the company was taken over, which adds further complexity,

the company will argue that they had to change responsibilities for business needs, and the op retains the same seniority and title, and they would win.

the assistant is no longer the assistant. The op needs to accept they’ve been promoted. They are now the same as her or more senior. The fact she doesn’t wish kids is irrelevant.

it’s difficult but with 2 years out the workplace, so close together, then the company do need to focus on meeting the business needs. If the op had come back prior to 26 weeks this wouldn’t have occurred, but she maxed out both times.

This! Sorry, but you were off for two years, whilst your assistant clearly did a great job and got the promotion he/she deserved. Either ask for more money based on your expertise, or if you're unhappy and think you can do better, leave.

The op is effectively trying to claim the rights of a woman who returned before 26 weeks, which she is not entitled to.

she is also showing huge resentment to the former assistant, telling a manager she recruited them is a childish way to try to claim some superiority, it is irrelevant who recruited them, the relevance is purely in the situatuonnow

the op should be delighted for her colleague, and show respect for the job she’s done, and accept her as her peer. Not live in the past and resent her promotions. She should then buckle down and do her job, moving forward with her career. Not arguing about how the former assistant was once her assistant and she’s 5 years more experience, no one gives a shit about 5 years more experience, they care about performance on the job.

I can’t think of one time I have cared about who recruited anyone I work with. Or when an incoming manager has actually shown any interest in who recruited me.

I am guessing the VP who had the conversation with op about how they recruited the other person was baffled by it and trying to be polite. I know I would be think ‘ok and what does that mean?’

Sorry op, I don’t think you are being unreasonable in terms of your own remuneration… but you need to get over this ‘assistant’ thing. She has the same job as you now, it is not reasonable to hold a grudge because she has progressed.

you need to chalk this up to you having made a great hire who has exceeded expectations.

Also, scrap the experience chat, just because you have done something for longer than someone else doesn’t mean you are better than them at doing it. It just makes you sound like you’re stuck in the past.

you ANBU with this:

• you both have the same job title & level of responsibility
• whilst you were on may leave she was given 18.5% pay rise & you received 6%
• she received 15% bonus (assuming this is 15% of new salary, not old one) & you received 7% bonus, which is lower than your normal bonus too.

the percentages aren’t relevant if she got a promotion & a new pay, but it is reasonable to ask for the same pay for the same job.

I totally agree! I hate it when people expect to get preferential or special treatment because they have children.

as an aside, I was also the person that was never going to have children… until one day I realised I wanted a baby more than anything else in the world.

currently on maternity leave, loving it & have employed someone to cover my role whilst I’m off. She’s not my assistant, she’s brilliant.