Is this legal? Promotion related

[eggyeggy]

I'd appreciate any help with this. I've been with my company for 6 years. They're not terribly open and my manager is ineffective to say the least. I have discovered a role I didn't know existed, which would be the natural progression from my current role.

The role description describes what I have been doing for several years. I asked my manager if I could be considered for promotion to this job title/salary. It was received positively and I waited and waited and waited, occasionally chasing it up, to be fobbed off again. I'm now told she has looked at the role and decided it's not entirely appropriate in title and that perhaps the route to getting it should be more defined (ie there should be more hoops to jump throguh). She's basically realised if I get this, people will realise it exists and quite a few others who also do my role will (rightly) put up their hand to say 'err what about me?'.

So despite me asking for it months ago, and getting verbal agreement and support, they are not going to move the goalposts. Should they honour the current post as it is in this case, and make the changes they want to make afterwards?

It feels terribly unfair. Many thanks for any thoughts.

If it’s not been advertised, they can make changed to the JD. It’s not great to do it afterwards. The whole set up, which isn’t transparent, would concern me. Jobs should be open to all candidates. Individual negotiation for a new job isn’t in the best interests of the company. However they need help with staff organisation though! Seems a bit cloak and dagger!

No. It's not illegal.

it's unfair. i'd start looking for another job, sounds like there's no progression.

Why would it not be legal?

She's basically realised if I get this, people will realise it exists and quite a few others who also do my role will (rightly) put up their hand to say 'err what about me?'

So they have realised that they have a pool of potential internal candidates who could do this job as there are several people doing yiur current role which has good transferable skills to this other job. And they don't want to just give the job to the person who asked first as they may not be the best candidate.

Nope
Not illegal.

Nope, nothing illegal here.

If you think it’s unfair then you absolutely should take it to the government’s new office of the “Ombudsman of fair” which was set up for exactly this sort of thing.

Basically, anything which is legal but unfair can be taken to them and they can give a binding ruling. It ranges from your sort of issue all the way up to a person having an older car than their friend and right down to a boy at school not getting you a valentine’s card after you showed him your bum in the playground.

It costs nothing to ask them to take the case on.

@SianNotAMan i have never heard
of an ‘ombudsman of fair’ and googling isn’t bringing anything up. Please could you provide a link? Thanks

@ChessieFL - there isn't one. It's irony.

😂😂

Oh jeez...

Just apply as an external candidate

Of course it's not illegal! What law would say 'well if your manager says that something might happen and then says later that it won't then you can sue them'?! It's annoying, and might feel unfair, but that's all.

Good grief.

👏 👏 👏

Oops, clearly too early for me to get the joke

How can she apply for a job which hasn't been advertised, and as an external candidate when she already works there?

@KassandraOfSparta I assumed she discovered it on some kind of bulletin.

You can apply for a job on Indeed or whatever at a company you already work at. There's nothing stopping you doing that.

It sounds to me as though they have someone in mind for this role and will tweak the JD so that only that person will meet the requirements.
Unless there's some form of direct or indirect discrimination against people with protected characteristics then there's nothing stopping them doing this.
I would set up job alerts on websites like Indeed and via Google and see what comes up OP. Speak to ACAS or your union if you think it does involve discrimination.

It’s highly likely that firms discriminate by tweaking JDs to exclude others. They won’t overtly discriminate but not being open about a job can lead to resentment if you don’t quite fit the bill. Covertly it is discrimination if people are prevented from applying. These might be people with protected characteristics. It’s always best to be open and fair.

Am I misunderstanding this - are you asking if it's illegal for an employer to give everyone a fair opportunity to apply for a vacant position?

So you didn’t know the role existed. You found it how?

Does that mean no one has been filling it?

Did they forget about the role? Sounds like it’s a role that has become fairly redundant, you drew attention to it and they have realised that the Job description needs updating to make it a role that is now more relevant.

and they are opening up applications for it. Which is the right thing to do?

The ombudsman of fair definitely wouldn’t take this 😁

It feels terribly unfair

It seems the opposite to me, it seems like they actually realised they were not being fair to a pool of potential candidates and have decided to run a fair process.