Employer trying to avoid paying annual increment

Hi.
A friend of mine works for a government funded agency.

When he started he was on a temporary contract for 6 months.

When this contract expired he was asked to remain on but not issued with a new contract until 3 months later. As part of both contracts (it was stated that a pay increment was payable on completion of 12 months of service). His employer is now stating that he must complete 12 months on his current contract before he is entitled to a pay increment.

Any advice would be welcome, obviously he's feeling hard done by.

Don't this this is correct - even if a new contract was not issued after the first temporary contract expired, the terms of that contract still stand during the period before he received the second contract and if it was part of both contracts that a pay increment was payable on completion of 12 months service, then he is due an increment after 12 consecutive months service.

Thanks for taking the time to reply nutso.
My friend checked his staff handbook which confirmed that the increment is payable 12 months after commencement of service - he's gone to his employer to ask again for the pay increment ... armed with the staff handbook.
Thanks again.

Did your friend get a pay rise as part of the second contract? If so, I'd imagine that there would be no further change in salary until 12-months into the second contract. If the pay/job for the second contract was the same, however, then I'd agree that the increment should be given 12-months from original start date.

Sprite

No pay rise has ever been received. Thanks again.

Is your friend a member of a trade union. Are TU's organised in this Gov. Agency?

Refer them to the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 and the increment should be paid. What the employer is proposing is illegal under Irish and EU employment law.

ajapale said:

Are TU's organised in this Gov. Agency?

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, it sounds like the employer is Govt funded, rather than being a Govt Agency itself.

Thanks again for all the helpful replies.
My friend did put in writing his request for pay increment and also the highlighted copy of the relevant section in the staff handbook. The manager acknowledged receipt of the letter but replied by email saying that she would not be in a position to deal with this issue until a specified list of tasks are dealt with (after next committee meeting).

Timing is crucial, as mentioned previously, he is employed by a government funded agency. The organisation is managed by committee but manager and staffed by paid employees. The manager stated that all decisions on pay increment must be ratified by the committee - which meets at best every 7 weeks - the delay in getting a decision will mean the employee will have to wait a further 7 weeks to have increment sanctioned.

My friend is thinking about taking legal advice to 'force her hand'.
It speaks volumes about the employer when he would even have to consider this action for a matter as simple as a pay increment.

He is not a union member.

It may well be legally accurate to say that such decisions need to be ratified by the committee. IMHO, your friend should focus on what the manager is going to say to the committee, i.e. is the manager making a recommendation to the committee?

You may not want to hear this but my suspicion is that the agency may be counting their pennies in anticipation of problems with their funding. A lot of government funded agencies are likely to lose their funding in the very near future.

Thanks so much to everyone who offered support and advice. I am pleased to report that my friend got his pay increase by forcing the boss into a corner ... armed with staff handbook and advice on legislation (thanks csirl). Knowledge is power! Thanks again ... where would the little people be without aam ... let's start a campaign to have Brendan canonised!