Just been told I am losing 5% of my salary...

[ubern00b]

I will be seeking proper advice but as with most things... let's ask OCUK first!

I have worked on-call for about the last 10 years at a base rate of 9.5% of my salary and then claiming overtime for any actual work that needs doing. This is for a 1 in 3 rota. 1 in 4+ commands a rate of 4.5%.

I have just been informed that I have been paid incorrectly since August last year and as of September I will be dropping to the 4.5% rate but they will not be asking to reclaim any money for the period I was paid incorrectly.

My question I guess is, can anything be done about this? The only thing that keeps playing in my mind is that I have been doing this for ~10 years, surely at some point that becomes "part of your salary" as you rely on it, you build your budgets around it etc. If it was £50 or something then I wouldn't be so bothered but its £200 a month I suddenly don't have anymore.

Beside the fact that I give my all to this company, I work and respond to issues outside of my on-call rota as that's just what being a team player is all about. Myself and my colleague are the most senior members of the team outside of my Manager and Director so I feel it is part of my remit. However business sees things in black and white i guess and I need to try leave the emotion out of it, the extra I do is on my shoulders, not theirs.

Starting to rant a little now but the TL;DR: Getting 5% of my salary taken away from me due to a longer on-call rotation. Due to how long i have been doing it, can I fight this at all?

 

[ubern00b]

What's your contract say?

My legal rights aren't going to be detailed in my contact, are they?

Are the rates for the two rotas detailed out in contracts of official documents? Have you actually been working on 1 in 3 or 1 in 4? What changed?

THey are detailed somewhere in official documents, yes. Members of the team stopped doing on-call then came back and we also recruited so the numbers have been up and down. I guess it's been 1 in 4 since August last year.

I'm not really questioning whether they can do it or not, I just have a niggle in the back of my mind that I was told once if you get paid something or work in a certain way for a substantial period of time, that autonomously becomes your working conditions. I may be utterly confused of course.

 

[ubern00b]

I have looked up "custom and practice" and that is indeed what I was thinking of, applying it to the wrong thing.

I understand they can re-claim the money legally so I'm not going to push anything but if I don't do my due dilligence then I only have myself to blame for a 5% decrease in my salary. I may be doing a longer on-call rotation now officially but unoffiially I would always make myself available should i need to be, should a system break and I held the knowledge more than others etc. Sure, my own fault but if you look at it like that then I do far more than 1 in 3 even.

I'm not sure quite what you're expecting to achieve or argue? That because they overpaid you for a year they should be bound to do so permanently? Not sure you'll get very far with that

Lol not at all, I was trying to argue that because I had been recieving this for ~10+ years can they just turn around and reduce it.

I'm not after money for nothing, it's just a financial shock and I want to be sure that the kick in the pants can't be avoided somehow. That's all.

 

[ubern00b]

It's not nice losing money, maybe ask them if there are extra duties to make up the cost? If not then it looks like you will need to reduce outgoings somehow.

Yea I will do this. It doesn't leave me in a terrible position, just not as great as it once was. Paying back all my mistakes from my younger years and getting my debt to 0 is a year out, now its more like a year and a half to two years out.

Business can be very short sighted sometimes. All they are telling me is that there is no appreciation for any of the times i jumped in when needed and as such I certainly won't be doing it in future. Try contact me outside of working hours and on-call now, not going to happen (and it happend a lot).

Thank you to everyone who replied, it is appreciatd

 

[ubern00b]

He isn't losing money. He was unfairly gaining money previously though.

Lost of semantics and ways you can look at it. I think a lot of people are missing the fact that I got paid this FOR A DECADE. As far as I was concerned, it was my salary. Rightly or wrongly, black and white, I simply won't beleive anyone who says they wouldn't see it like that after such a time period.

 

[ubern00b]

I guess the only question that remains is why did you move over to 1 in 4 last August if you wanted the same money?

As I stated previously the team expanded. Not something that is in my control.

 

[ubern00b]

Appreciate all the view points, this is why we post on forums to gain insight. Yes I have had a year of 5% extra, you can look at it like that and I am looking at it like that lol. I guess I'm just salty at the news and it will pass and I will see things clearer. Feels like a lot of people standing on soap boxes though. I can't beleive you're all so morally superior that if it happened to you you would thank your employer and sing their praises. Maybe I will next week, for now I choose to be salty heh

And yes there are other colleagues who are in the same boat.

I'm sorry if I am not getting my point across in a way you guys can comprehend but all this talk of "surely you know what you should be getting paid" and well, calling me a theif (really?) let me try paint the picture a little clearer: I have been paid 9.5% for 10 years. Never any different. My salary changes every year. I am not responsible for recruitment or making sure I am paid correctly, as far as I was concerend I was getting paid correctly. We had people drop off on-call and then come back and then the team grew etc. I didn't keep track of it all, it quite literally is not my job. So yes I have had a year of money I should not have had that they are not seeking to reclaim. I didn't look at it like this. Score.

 

[ubern00b]

Thanks to everyone who replied constructivly. I'm going to leave the thread there. Certain members are being quite abrasive in their replies. Maybe I'm just being a little fragile but there is just no need. I've been set on the right course and changed my viewpoint and been educated along the way. Cheers.