Boss, I deserve a pay rise

April 29th, 2010

Who’s due for a pay increase?
Boss, I’ve been working for the company for a year, I’ve worked hard, I’ve done everything asked of me – and more – I’ve stayed late in the office, I’ve attended to all the details on the Morgan contract, I closed the Johnson account, completed the bid on that bridge project, fixed the insurance for the California energy plant and am neck deep in the water desalination pilot. I am exhausted and there’s no let-up in sight. A pay rise would be a great way of saying thanks.

Is he due for a rise?
Employers are regularly faced with the question of whether their employees should receive salary increases. The basic rule is that employees do not have a right to an annual salary increase, unless it is: stipulated in an employee’s contract of employment; determined by a collective agreement between the employer and a trade union or by a bargaining council agreement; or set down by a sectoral determination applicable to the sector within which the employer operates.

Management prerogative
In the absence of any of these, salary increases remain the prerogative of management. Obviously, if the right to an increase is catered for in any agreements or determinations, the employer cannot unilaterally remove this right and replace it with, for instance, a discretionary annual salary increase or take away the right altogether. This would amount to a breach of contract. The employee’s agreement would have to be obtained to effect such a change.

Unfair labor practice
Even if an annual salary increase is not guaranteed, not providing an increase to an employee may still amount to an unfair labor practice. This would be the case, for example, if an employee meets all the requirements of a discretionary increase but the employer, without a valid reason, refuses to increase his or her salary. Employees who rely on this ground would need to prove that: they have some entitlement to an increase and that the employer acted unfairly in not increasing their salaries.

No guarantee of an increase
Even if there is no guarantee of an increase, employers who are running into financial problems, but whose employees might expect an increase, should at least inform the employees of their difficulties and their decision not to implement an increase well in advance. Not doing so is harmful to good workplace relations and opens up the risk of unfair labor practice complaints.

Tell the employees
It is important to communicate the basis on which salary increases are awarded to all employees. If the employer has a written policy about this, it should make reference to it in any contract of employment and ensure that staff whose contracts might not contain such a clause are provided with a copy of the policy. Employees should know in advance what the criteria are for receiving increases, how regularly they are awarded and on what basis they are calculated. The actual increase awarded to each individual employee should be kept confidential.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 7:39 am and is filed under Employment, Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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