Co-workers paid more per hour?

[sarah369]

Lets say this is an hypothetical question.

I work in a care home, all care assistants are on the same pay per hour £6.08, as far as I know.

We are all NVQ2,and all do the same job. What if it was known that 2 members of staff are on more per hour, namely £6.50, these 2 are what we would call the managers favourites. Lets say a document was accidentally read by a another staff member in the managers office, while they were speaking to them there, which stated certain staff and how much per hour beside their names. I do not think anything is mentioned in our contracts about performance related pay rises.

If say this were true, that certain members of staff were paid more than others,what would the implications, legalities be,would it be allowed, or fellow workers have a right to question this, but only if there was definite proof.

[Emmzzi]

There is no right to be paid the same. You could only do anything about it if clearly discriminatory on a protected characteristic eg all the men got paid more.

 

How about just asking for a pay rise?

[sarah369]

If they are being paid that, well they are being paid even more than our senior carers, who have the responsibilities of handing all of the medication etc, and doing all care plan work, even they are a bit miffed about hearing this.

[Emmzzi]

I thought this was hypothetical?

[assisted blonde]

s far as I am aware its up to the emp[loyer who gets paid what and its up to the individual to accept or decline. if its not discriminatory its not wrong

[LaughingGirl]

I do hope you haven't seen this information and then discussed it with your colleagues. If they go to management and tell them that you've seen confidential information on a desk and then broadcast it, you could be in a fair bit of trouble.

[sarah369]

I never saw the document, somebody else did. I just heard of this word of mouth from another staff member, it is doing the rounds at work

[assisted blonde]

There are always rhumours at work , its always someone else has seen, heard etc etc and probably best not to beleive everything yuou hear. Best thing to do is go to your boss and ask for a payrise

[LaughingGirl]

Yes, I agree completely. Discussing other staff's pay rates can get you into some seriously hot water (my cousin was actually sacked not long ago for telling a colleague what her own pay was) because it has the potential to create a very unpleasant working atmosphere, and can spark grievance procedures.

 

AB is right - if you feel that your performance or role is worth more than you're being paid, you should discuss it with your line manager - but don't pass on workplace gossip as a reason for bringing it up. Salary information is usually considered to be confidential information, and whoever is passing that information on would be guilty of gross misconduct in a lot of (if not all) companies.