Blatant preferential treatment

by Dylan
(Ottery St Mary)

I have been trying to do research on whether I can make an official complaint about this but I want to know if it is actually worth the hassle. I am currently working in a fairly large, privately owned restaurant.

The basis of this story is, one person at my work is now on his second pay rise for apparently "consistently working really well". The problem I have with this is, this is not a hard job, about 5 or 6 other people do this job when he is away, on top of their usual chef jobs. he works part time, 1 day a week, for about 4/5 hours, to be exact and he is now being paid more than workers who are working full time and doing harder jobs than he does, and none of these people have received a pay rise. These people are still being paid national minimum wage for their age so their is no violation there, but you can see why I have a problem with this. I am not the only person who is frustrated about this and who wants to make a complaint, we are just unsure as to whether anything will happen, the manager did openly make a confession to an employer about the pay rise and how much he was getting paid. There have also been occasions where staff have been credited for their achievements at work, but have not been given any pay rise, this has also happened to me.

What is the likely-hood of any action being taken if a complaint is made?

Response from Carl: Thanks Dylan. I'm sure what the likelihood is that you'd be successful to be honest based on what you mention. When it comes to merit pay raises there might be other things going on behind the scenes that you're not aware of. Then again, perhaps it is just favoritism as you've inferred.

Before filing a complaint - which I'm guessing could negatively affect your work experience with your manager - perhaps discussing the issue directly with your manager might be the best way to proceed with to start. Perhaps there's a chance you'll get the raise or at least a reasonable explanation as to why you haven't received one.

If you have access to a legal opinion - perhaps a local labor lawyer offers a free consultation for example - you might also try this route if you feel this job is one worth fighting for.

Carl