Any employment lawyers / HR specialists around please?

[iklboo]

I'm just after a wee bit of advice.

Our pay award has been announced but it's slightly complicated by the fact it's based on Performance Grade achieved and where you are in one of the three pay bands for your role.

We have lower / middle / upper bands.

Pay award is

0% for new to role or under a Performance Review (usually due to sick leave, disability not taken into account. If you've hit trigger, you've hit trigger).

1.5 % for Achieving targets

2% for Exceeding Expectation

4% for Outstanding (hen's teeth).

Unlikely anybody in the business is on the same pay due to length of service, part time etc

They've told us they won't confirm our pay rise & new rate in writing to each individual now and we we'll 'be able to see your new rate on the HR pages'. They won't answer direct approaches / questions from staff either. Just 'see your pay page online'

Can they do this? How will we be able to calculate if we've been put on the right rate - not everyone is good with sums, percentages etc?

We're also worried that if there's nothing in writing, there's scope to say we are on the right rate even if we're not.

They've not provided ANY explanation and are ducking questions or obfuscating.

TIA

Surely you know what band you’re on and can do the maths?

How will we be able to calculate if we've been put on the right rate - not everyone is good with sums, percentages etc

you can use a calculator. Or ask on here if there is no adults or kids around who can do it.

Divide your salary by 100.

That tells you what 1% is.

Times it by 2 to tell you what 2% is and times it by 4 to see what 4% is.

Make a note of these figures.

Subtract your old salary from the new salary.

The answer you get should match one of the numbers you noted down earlier.

So you can check.

Or divide by 100 on a calculator and then times it by the increase rhat corresponds to your band. Add it to your old salary that’s your new wage

if you wish us to do it for you post the salary and increase

Are you all employment lawyers?

I'm asking if they can tell us 'just look at the pay pages'. Or if there's anything in employment law which says they should put it in writing if asked.

I can work mine out. I can even do split percentage calculations for people on staggered bands (of which there are a few). BUT some colleagues aren't as comfortable, especially those with pro rata pay.

No they don't have to write to each of you individually to tell you the amount you'll be getting. Presumably you know your achievement level so know your %, and the rest can be worked out. I'm really not seeing an issue at all.

It is at the very least good practice to put pay awards and changes in writing. A pay change is a contractual change so its possible to argue that it must be put in writing, as all contractual changes should be.

However it's not clear whether putting it on an internal website the employee has access to is enough to be considered putting in writing. If you have a union I'd get some advice from them.

Well they are telling you by publishing it. And no, it doesn’t need to be individualised, particularly as it is discretionary pay.

Ps not an employment lawyer, I'm a former union rep though.

No they don't have to put it in writing. I got a phone call.

It's just that this is the first year they've done it and they won't say why the sudden change. There's no percentage breakdown on the pay pages, just your new annual rate. Your previous rate no longer shows. Some people are struggling with the 'backwards' calculation, especially on pro rata or split band pays.

I CAN calculate mine. I'm not going to calculate the rest of the staff's pay for them. I'm not payroll.

@katmarie - thank you. That's the kind of advice I was after. <Peppa Pig stares at others>.

The payband info is all but buried in several layers on the intranet pages, not clearly signposted. It's tricky to work out if you've nudged into the next band - especially (again) if pro rata or you split a band.

It's the fact they have point blank stated they will NOT answer individual queries.

@GoodChat - we've not even had that.

Someone found this on an employment legal firm online (U.K.) and was wondering if it was true (they HAD) to, or if it was discretionary. Except they won't answer queries.

Well to be fair mine was "it's around x%" and it was almost half a percentage higher than x which was nice, but ours worked the same way as yours, although it was expected that management communicated it.

I work for a large private company. I've never had pay increases confirmed in writing. This year was the first time I've been told verbally upfront what I was getting, every other year it's just been a case of wait until the new figure is updated on our HR file or not in some cases

I'd be amazed if they're doing this illegally. We are heavily unionised too.

Phone Daniel Barnett on his LBC legal phone in show. THIS SHOW!

My large international company tells us verbally and then publishes on the HR site for you to log in and access. We have HR and in house employment lawyers so I’d be astounded if this isn’t acceptable practice.

Why does everything need to be buried within a blinking app or platform? I completely understand OP, especially where there have been lots of changes or people have different agreements things can be input incorrectly and there is nothing to fall back on down the line when you need to query it. I would insist on an email at the very least.

Thanks for all the thoughts & advice. A mix of answers & lots to think about.

@SilverGlitterBaubles - yes. Especially as they've already misled us in another area. A lot of trust & goodwill is being eroded now they're making everything pay related less transparent.

This. I just did this quarters. I informed them verbally of the % and routed them to our HR software.