Workplace situation

[StarfishInSea]

A and B at my office are at the same grade.

C, D and E have recently been promoted to this grade but have less experience.

A was recently put on a PIP but taken off it soon after, hence there should be no restrictions on their pay. They are being paid significantly less than B, C, D and E despite being at the same grade and having more experience than three of these.

B, C, D and E have all been sworn to secrecy about their salaries but not told why. Inevitably their salaries came out to A. It is company policy that salary bands are publicly available info and A should been told where their salary was in the banding but was not.

A questioned why they were being paid much lower than their cohort with HR. HR’s initial response was to deny followed by saying they were “extremely angry” that A knew what the remainder of the cohort were on and this should not have been revealed.

Is this illegal? Have HR been unprofessional?

Is it private sector?

Nothing illegal in this. It would be illegal if they discipline anyone for disclosing their salary. But there is nothing wrong with A being paid less than B, C, D or E even though they have less experience provided the lower pay is not related to a protected characteristic. The fact that A has recently been on a PIP may mean that their performance is not good enough to justify being paid as much as the others, even though the PIP has been removed.

I wouldn't be happy with the behaviour of HR. They should know that employees have the legal right to discuss their salaries if they wish. But they have not yet done anything illegal.