Let down when it comes to salary

[Erlouise]

Hi ladies

in need of some impartial advice.

I returned from mat leave and had to step down from management. Had to take a huge pay cut. Tried to negotiate my salary but was told that I could only be given the same as what the rest of my team are on for fairness.

fast forward to now, and find out that I am on less than a lady I work with. They’ve been using me to train her and help her with her workload, she’s been there half the time I have and knows less than half to what I do about the organisation and processes etc.

I feel really let down and as though I’ve been taken for an idiot. The decision was made by my manager and HR so I’m a bit stuck with what to do. I only accepted the pay cut as I was desperate not to be out of work as me and DC’s father had just split when I was returning, my manager was also amazing at making sure I had a job to come back to and giving me the days and hours that suited me and my DC.

would you just forget about it and try to sit back a little bit and hold off on working too hard? Or would you bring this up at the next 1-2-1? It’s very unlikely my company will review the pay and increase as they do everything based on fairness.

advice is greatly appreciated!

No I would not forget about it. To be honest I'd like to say I'd be looking for a new job, but I know that flexibility like that isn't easy to come by. Keep emotion out of it, but go in with the facts. They've lied to you.

They have to give you your role or equivalent back so they haven’t been amazing at ‘making sure you had a job to come back to’. I think they might have breached employment law and you should check with ACAS or Pregnant then Screwed.

There is a certain non-financial benefit of taking it easy when you have very little ones and it means you aren't stressing on that front.

However if you are struggling to make ends meet, or actually your job is quite stressful anyway by then there is no harm in addressing it. It could be an oversight or you could need to move to a different company but I wouldn't want that stress newly single with a baby and would bide my time especially if there were other benefits like flexibility.

They have to give you your old job back. Unless you have asked for a demotion, how did this come about?

Just email them and ask for your salary to match the woman’s, you’ve trained her and have more experience then her.

It doesn't seem as though they do "everything with fairness" if they are paying someone else in the same role with less experience more than they are paying you.

Why do you feel you can't bring this up in a 121 with your Manager? Is your Manager also the other person's Manager?

Was it your choice to take a demotion on return from maternity leave?

Thanks for all the replies - it was completely my choice to step down and take pay cut but as I say I agreed and didn’t argue as was told I was put in line with everyone else’s salaries. Had I known someone was paid more with less knowledge I would have argued the case more.

They obviously don't do everything based on fairness ... they've had you over.

I'd ask for a meeting straight away and ask them how that is fair.