Employment lawyers, NHS consultant being paid one session less than

[employmentqueries]

This is an enquiry for my DH
He is NHS consultant and paid by the NHS trust.

Since starting in Nov 2010 he has had the same job plan, with the same caseload and resources, within the same team and office (in fact offices next to each other)as a collegue.
However he is doing the job on the basis of 10 PAs (programmed activities) and his counterpart on the basis of 11 PAs. This amounts to a difference of £9000 p/a

The only explanation he has had about why this has occurred is that he was employed by the organisation in the last 2 years whilst his counterpart started 4 years ago, and that all new comers were employed on 10Pas. They however are both at equivalent level of seniority, having qualified in the same year.

He is understandably concerned at the lack of equity and has tried proceeding through various channels within the trust with no progress.
He is now wondering if this might be discrimination issue (his family of Indian origin)
He wants to try to take this forwards on non- confrontational basis, and was thinking of contacting the BMA
Employment wise,with regards to the discrimination where does he stand in regards to this 'well , it is just different now'

'I accepted a job without a final salary pension scheme. I knew this when I signed the contract. Someone doing the same job but has been here longer gets a final salary pension because that was the contract he signed at the time of joining. Is it coz I is black?'

He could keep a diary and use this as evidence to ask for his job plan to be reviewed.

I know some conusultants get extra PA or SPA's for taking lead on different areas. It would be difficult to comment on any discrimination unless your husband had actually seen the other consultants Job plan and could confirm they were exactly the same.

I think is down to being a more recently recruited person. The trust I work at has had consultants in my dept on a variety of sessions, some as much as 12 or 13 per week (). New recruits to the trust (not the NHS) are put on the standardised 10/week. I think the others are gradually working towards the sessions reduced.
In reality, yes they are probably doing the same amount of work for different pay; however the 11 sessions colleague may be there when your DH isn't possibly?

It is annoying and demoralising but if the others are having theirs sessions reduced then (personally) I'd put up with it.

Where I used to work people who started at different times had different contracts. There were two different final salary schemes, different DC pension schemes and different car allowance depending on when you joined. So people of the same seniority could be on hugely different packages.

That's just the way it is, and playing the ethnicity card is just utterly disgusting.

I am also married to a consultant who is paid for 10 PA sessions. This was the new consultant contract that he signed and any new contracts since then (he signed on August 09) are exactly the same. He took on an extra PA session last year so is now paid for 11 sessions but has to do an extra half day to receive that pay.

There are many other consultants in the department doing the same job and paid 11 PAs. That's the way it is. Unfortunately, the doctors didn't put up much of a fight when things were being re-written, particularly the older consultants who didn't really care about the disparity in terms and conditions, at least, that's my take on it.

I am confused by your post because you say he qualified the same year as his colleague. I'm assuming you mean they became consultants in the same year. If he has transferred from another hospital then either his PAs have been protected or he's seen a drop to 10 PAs. The alternative is that he has always been paid 10 PAs and is disgruntled that his colleague takes home more pay. Whichever is the case, I'm sorry but he ought to have read the contract before he agreed to sign it.

My husband's family of origin are Irish. It wouldn't strike him for a moment that his 10 PA contract was a result of having a non-British family background. I am astonished that he even went down this route in his mind rather than seeing the more obvious explanations about having signed up for a 10 PA contract. It's not about being undervalued, it's about being last in the door.

I'm also confused about how a PA session could be paid at 9k per annum if he's been a consultant for 2 years? His basic pay is probably about £75k and an additional PA would be 10% of this amount, so 7.5k. And before anyone shouts up, yes, that's a good salary and they ought to be grateful for it, but so should we all be grateful for the knowledge and expertise of doctors at this senior level. The years of training and personal sacrifice are no walk in the park.

On balance, if his colleague is being paid 11 sessions, I would suspect he has only 4 SPA sessions. If he also has 5 SPA sessions (as your husband will have 5) then he ought to speak to the clinical director to voice his concern.

As pointed out this is not an ethnic issue, this is just timing. The other chap cam in 2 years earlier, wehn salary's were at a high. Then with budgets and cuts, they decided to make it 10 rather than 11.
I am afraid this is life.
I know so, becasue I face the same problem.
I started wotrk, in accounts , at my present co, 5 years ago. salarys' were at a high. Now the baottom has fallen out of the market and an agency told me that I will be lucky to get half my salary. Yes really. Instead of say roughly £18 per hour, they have a job going for £8. I nearly spit my coffeee out.
very upsetting. But life, I am afriad. And I shoudl know !!