Same job different rate of pay?

[MerlinFromCamelot]

A friend of mine has started working for the same company as me. I have been there for 3 months and she is there for just under a month. We are doing exactly the same job albeit at 2 different locations, less than 5 miles apart.

It now turns out that my friend is earning £5 per hour less than I do. Is this discrimination?

Feeling really bad because I was the one who said there was a job going!

Thank you

Discrimination on what grounds?

I think it's very unlikely. They are paying you for your experience, you are probably well up the payscale (if you've been doing it a while) and may well be considered overpaid. If they replaced you they would likely do it with someone on the same rate as your friend. There is always an element of negotiation with salaries. They will pay as little as they can get away with to recruit/retain a suitable person. It's usual to start a new job near the bottom of the payscale.

It's only discrimination if people are paid differently because of their sex/race etc and only that. i.e. you could have a man and a woman doing the same job on different pay but if the man was better qualified/had a better sales record/more experience it is still OK to pay him more

There is no right to fair pay in the UK there is only a right to non discriminatory pay. if you are both female then she has no equal pay claim. If you are male she MIGHT have a claim but only if she can then show that she was paid less BECAUSE she is female and not due to some other reason such as all new employees are now paid less because the company doesn't have much money.

I'm a specialist equal pay lawyer so can say with a high degree of certainty that I am right on this before anyone argues.

littlered

Sorry, that made me smile!

Thank you...