Sexism? Racism? What next?

[Lychees]

I'ev only just started to think about this due to being unhappy at work and because I've been thinking about how much I'm worth to the company recently.

Basically, when I went on maternity leave with my DS [now 3yo], I was temporarily replaced by a man who was at the same level of qualification as me [I'm an accountant] who was paid £5k more than me.

Fast forward to last year and I passed all of my exams and became fully qualified. And got a payrise. However, ALL my colleagues got an inflationary payrise this year I have worked out that in effect, the payrise was piddly. If you apply the inflationary payrise that everyone got on to the amount they paid for my replacement, I only get 0.04% above that for passing my exams.

How do I speak to my manager about this? I'm really angry and feel like I've been discriminated against. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Gather evidence before you speak to your manager. You sound like you have a good case for an equal pay claim but you need evidence. Also think 1st what you want. Raising a greviance could cause problems at work and make it unbearable staying there.

Temporary replacements often do get paid more than permanent staff, to make up for the lack of job security, so you'd need to check out whether the difference in pay was down to that rather than sexism - if they advertised the post with that salary and would have given it to a temporary female employee then I don't think you can argue that it is sexist.

The payrise is worth pursuing though - if your profession normally has payrises for qualification, then it's reasonable to expect a payrise significantly more than you would have got just for inflation. But it isn't necessarily racism or sexism to not give it to you, unless you can show that other staff have been given a "proper" payrise in the same situation.

I think you need to leave the mat replacement salary issue. It was 3 years ago, temps often get more to offset lack of job security/benefits etc, you don't seem to have any reason to believe it was because he was a man that he was paid more, and realistically as it was so long ago there's nothing you can do about it.

So the question is whether you are paid a suitable rate for your experience/qualification levels now. You mention sexism/racism. Are there men/staff of a different ethnicity who are doing the same/similar job on the same qualification level who are paid more than you?

Agree with AMumInScotland's first paragraph. Women on maternity leave often find that their temporary replacements are paid substantially more than they are. That isn't discrimination nor is it wrong. In many jobs temporary staff are paid more than permanent staff. In IT, for example, temporary staff often get paid double the rate for permanent staff. A quick check on an accountancy job board indicates that a differential of £5k for a temporary worker is fairly normal. Unless you have evidence that a permanent male employee would get paid more than you do, there is no case for an equal pay claim.

As for the payrise, you haven't been very clear but I think you are saying you got 0.04% more than the inflationary payrise applied to your replacement's salary. I think AMumInScotland thinks you have received 0.04% more than the inflationary payrise applied to your own salary. If I am right you had a rise of £5k plus inflation plus 0.04%. That sounds like a pretty healthy rise to me. The problem again is that you are comparing your pay with that of your temporary replacement.

Bluntly, if you want to earn what a temporary worker earns you should become a temporary worker. If you want the security of a permanent role you must accept that involves lower pay. I don't see any evidence that you have been discriminated against for anything other than choosing to take a permanent role. Sorry.

Sorry - penultimate sentence should have said "I don't see any evidence in the information you have posted..."

If your employer pays male permanent employees more than female employees doing the same job, or pays white employees more than those of other ethnicities it would be different. However, all you have told us is that a temp was paid more than you. That is not discrimination.

Oh hang on, so you got a £5k increase plus 0.04% for passing your exams? Sounds fine to me!

Unless there are men/staff of different ethnic origin who are in comparable roles with comparable levels of experience/qualification who are paid more than you, there is no discrimination.

Oh if you got the £5K rise, then you got a proper rise! I thought you meant you only got a tiny bit more than the inflationary rise that others were getting. Unless others have got substantially more than that when they qualified, then I don't think there's anything to complain about.