nc here..... I wondered if others in public sector were in a similar position:
I've worked in the same dept for over 10 years and have been able to work through my 'increments' in my pay scale, but my grade spans across another 'ceiling' whereby you have to prove you have been working at a 'higher' level for a certain of time, before being put forward by your boss to achieve this higher grade banding. All other members of my dept (male and female) have been able to achieve this level, and I have been asking now for the last few years, since my immediate line manager felt I had a case to be put forward for me to be put onto this level also.
However, the manager above keeps coming up with different reasons as to why I am not ready for this level yet. It seems I just never am able to please him, and thus my immediate line manager seems to have to go along with his wishes, despite attempting to support me - but I am getting fed up and not sure of how much else I can take with this 'proving', since goalposts seem to shift each time I mention it.
The most annoying thing here is that I am part of a small specialist team, and have since found out (though no actual proof in my hands) that the last 3 members of staff to come into my team since 2009 (who were mentored and trained partially by me since my experience and knowledge levels are good) were brought in from external job adverts and they were placed on the higher salary banding than I currently am on. (The one I am attempting to prove my worth that I believe I SHOULD be on).
I am female. I never think of there being a difference. Never. All other staff mentioned here and managers are male. This sounds ridiculous, but I actually wonder if I have a leg to stand on if I take this up with them. Obviously I don't want to rock any boats, but this is so demoralising. I have mentioned it in passing about the unfairness of the situation to my immediate line manager, but all he says is that they have to pay more to get external staff in, as that's what their salary was before they came to us. But - I share my knowledge with them to allow them to do the job??
Tell me, honestly......
is this some kind of common practise that I actually have to put up with, Or something I should not put up with any longer? Any and all advice gratefully received, I am clueless about these types of issues...