Retracting Pay rise

[ParticipantA]

Hello all,

An employee requested a pay rise. She is a good (not the best) employee and we will probably agree to some symbolic small uplift. We would not want to loose her and seems like her request is mostly justified.

However, as she is friends with other employees we don’t want her to go around telling everyone about this Because then we wil end up with lots of others ‘good’ and not so good employees pushing for more money.

Can we use confidentiality clause to retract her pay rise if we find out that she told others?

I know you can retract pay rise for various reasons ie poorer performance,
Can you retract it because they breached confidentiality agreement?

 

[Newchodge]

I know you can retract pay rise for various reasons ie poorer performance,

Really? What makes you think that?

Your relationship with your employee is based on a contract. You can offer a payrise linked to a contractual clause that she must not disclose her rate of pay or the fact that she has had a rise, and if she brreaches the claue the payrise will be withdrawn.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

you cannot stop people talking whatever you do, suggest you give all a token pay rise or larger if you can afford it

 

[Mr D]

OP, do you have some mechanism for people increasing their base pay besides a percentage across the board pay rise?

One of my previous employers had a skillset pay level. Learn the job you are assigned to and its base pay, get assigned to and learn a different job within the company and it was an increase in base pay of 5%, get assigned to and learn a third job within the company and it was a further 5% increase on your new base pay. The multi skilled people could be assigned to different sections to cover.

.

 

[kulture]

Alternatively tell everyone that the one employee is getting a pay rise because they are worth more to the business . If you cannot justify it don’t give the pay rise. If you can justify it don’t keep it secret.

 

[Nick Dewdney]

The loss of goodwill by retracting the payrise will most likely be more expensive than the cost saved, plus all the negative impacts on her "friends" in the company.

 

[billmccallum1957]

Does this mean that "the best" also get a pay increase? Or is it related to the fact that it's a "she"?

I always take the view that staff should be the best, that's what we pay them for, does anyone aim for mediocre?

If you give one member of staff a pay increase just because they ask, then anyone doing the same job should get one too.

 

[MikeJ]

Alternatively tell everyone that the one employee is getting a pay rise because they are worth more to the business . If you cannot justify it don’t give the pay rise. If you can justify it don’t keep it secret.

We have an open information policy on salaries. Everyone knows what everyone else earns.

 

[Employment Law Clinic]

Can we use confidentiality clause to retract her pay rise if we find out that she told others?

Yes, but...

Does this mean that "the best" also get a pay increase? Or is it related to the fact that it's a "she"?

77Discussions about pay [Link to the legislation - but formatting doesn't make that obvious!]
(1)A term of a person's work that purports to prevent or restrict the person (P) from disclosing or seeking to disclose information about the terms of P's work is unenforceable against P in so far as P makes or seeks to make a relevant pay disclosure.

(2)A term of a person's work that purports to prevent or restrict the person (P) from seeking disclosure of information from a colleague about the terms of the colleague's work is unenforceable against P in so far as P seeks a relevant pay disclosure from the colleague; and “colleague” includes a former colleague in relation to the work in question.

(3)A disclosure is a relevant pay disclosure if made for the purpose of enabling the person who makes it, or the person to whom it is made, to find out whether or to what extent there is, in relation to the work in question, a connection between pay and having (or not having) a particular protected characteristic.

(4)The following are to be treated as protected acts for the purposes of the relevant victimisation provision—

(a)seeking a disclosure that would be a relevant pay disclosure;

(b)making or seeking to make a relevant pay disclosure;

(c)receiving information disclosed in a relevant pay disclosure.

(5)The relevant victimisation provision is, in relation to a description of work specified in the first column of the table, section 27 so far as it applies for the purposes of a provision mentioned in the second column.

If a disclosure is made to ensure Equality laws aren't being breached, any contractual clause to reduce the pay - returning it to an earlier rate - would probably be [edit]unlawful. Very difficult to prove, would need very tight contractual terms to enforce.


Karl Limpert

 

[Employment Law Clinic]

If a disclosure is made to ensure Equality laws aren't being breached, any contractual clause to reduce the pay - returning it to an earlier rate - would probably be [edit]unlawful. Very difficult to prove, would need very tight contractual terms to enforce.

Let me try to make that a little clearer than mud!

It is perfectly lawful for an employer to have contractual terms for pay, including a term that details of individual pay are not shared with peers; and if such a term is broken as part of any pay rise, the rise can be affected too.

If an employee shares details of their pay for the purposes of establishing compliance with equality law, there will be no breach of any contract, as such term would be unenforceable.

Or simply, in principal it can be done - a pay rise can be conditional on not sharing the details with others.

In practice, the employer may need to be able to prove that the pay rise wasn't due to a protected characteristic. Favouritism is fine, perfectly legal. As long as it's based on a good employee you don't want to lose, not because of gender, race...


Karl Limpert