Steve M wrote:When you accept a job you accept the salary, no discrimination there.
But surely if your manager basically tells you that you will have a better chance of your salary being reviewed should you move back to being a full time employee, that is discrimination?
You will get better benefits being a full time worker if the company requires a full time worker.
If your wage review as a part time worker is different to your negotiated conditions or company policy concerning part time workers then you have a case, you cant compare a part time job to a full time job, you can compare a part time job with another part time job but that is subject to your contract of employment and discrimination would only be considered if it was for a protected characteristic such as race or gender etc.
You can speak or email ACAS as already suggested but unless you have a protected characteristic it would be far too costly to take to an employment tribunal.
Go through the company grievance procedures if you wish (this must be your first approach if normal negotiation fails) but I think you would be better off taking it on the chin and accept the situation as it is.
Before falling into H&S, my original background was HR and I have a slightly different slant to most of the answers provided so far but I would really advise seeking legal advice from ACAS or a legal professional so you are fully aware of your rights before taking any drastic action.
You have no claims whatsoever against your employer based on what the industry standard is - you knew what the terms were on offer from this employer and you accepted them. Yes you can provide evidence that they are paying well below the industry standard and ask them to review your salary but if they so no you haven't got a leg to stand on (see bit about protection of part-time workers later in post).
However, as a part-time worker, you do have protection under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 which basically stipulate that part time workers have the right not to be treated less favourably than a full time worker doing the same or similar work regarding the terms of employment. Under these regulations you have the right to request a written statement of reasons for any treatment which is less favourable than a comparable full time worker. (This could be hypothetically yourself in a full time role). My first port of call would be to ask for a pay review in writing citing your reasons and justification (this could include reference to industry standard) and ask them to respond in writing.
You may also have an Equal Pay Claim under the Equality Act 2010 under which men and women must recieve equal treatment in the terms and conditions of their employment contract if they are employed to do
'like work' - work that is the same or broadly similar
work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation study
work found to be of equal value in terms of effort, skill or decision making.
You can compare any terms in the contract of employment with the equivalent terms in a comparators contract. A comparator is an employee of the opposite sex working for the same employer, doing like work of equal value. However, an employer may defend a claim if they show the reason for the difference is due to a genuine factor and not based on the sex of the employee. Your employers cannot prevent you from having discussions with other persons in the workplace to establish if there are difference in pay under The Equality Act 2010. When studying this you should either compare like for like on the full time role terms/conditions or pro-rata both for part time work.
You also mention that your part-time status is following a return from maternity leave; this could potentially open up an indirect sexual discrimination claim which could be lodged in conjunction with any of the other two claims I've already mentioned but again would recommend more thorough legal advice.
Check your home insurance as you may have legal cover which would help you get specialist employment advice which I would recommend.
If you wish to provide more details privately I'd be happy to try to give you more advice but I would recommend you take some sort of legal advice either through ACAS or a lawyer.
