Pay Freeze

[debilou]

a few of us have been moved to a new building, and now under a different supervisor. We are now told that since we make more money that the others around us, that they are going to freeze our pay until the others catch up. that means no cost of living raises as well.. one of us has been with the company 20 years. Is this legal?
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[buildersmate]

Yes it is - there is no obligation on an employer to raise salary at any time - unless it is written specifically into your contract (very unlikely). Time to use your best negotiating skills on your manager?

[cascarelli]

Yes it's legal. Most contracts will have, at most, a clause saying salaries will be 'reviewed' annually. This doesn't mean you will necessarily get an increase each year.

[WendyS]

You will probably find that many companies operate with a set of salary scales for each grade of staff and if employees' salaries are allowed to move too far outside the relative pay scales, the whole organisation's compensation policy becomes distorted. So, it is perfectly legitimate to do this, although naturally highly unpopular with those who miss out on a pay increase. Your employers will have a difficult balancing act here, as if they let other staff fall behind, they run the risk of losing them. Against this they will have to balance the fact that possibly other longer-serving staff will be dissatisfied and leave. However, if you are discontented about not receiving even a cost of living increase, you can raise this as a formal grievance with your HR Department. You might also ask the company to publish their salary scales so that this is a transparent process and everybody in future understands how salary increases will be awarded. Your HR department might not want to do this, as it may open up a can of worms and show that in the past their salary policy has been a rather "hit and miss" affair but at least you will then understand how the process operates.