18 June 2019
The States Employment Board (SEB) has decided to maintain the decision to return the grades of 126 allied health professionals and social workers to their original grade, 17 months after their grades were uplifted in error.
A collective grievance was raised by some of those employees, whose grades and pay were revised upwards in November 2017. These employees were told in December 2018 that this revision would be reversed on 1 April 2019, after a report from an independent specialist found the roles had been inappropriately uplifted.
The collective grievance was considered at a hearing on 29 May by a Disputes Panel, which recommended that the SEB should maintain this decision to ensure that work to address pay parity is preserved.
The panel also recommended that affected employees should receive pay protection – in accordance with the organisation’s pay protection policy – for three years from 1 April 2019.
During the period of pay protection, the roles of all affected employees will be evaluated to ensure people are on the correct grade for their contracted role. The SEB has asked that this work be carried out as a matter of priority.
Affected employees, wider groups and unions will be included in discussions to plan and implement an appropriate evaluation process, and there will be face-to-face communication and support throughout the process.
The SEB’s Deputy Chair, Connétable Richard Buchanan, said: “We want to tackle pay and grading issues properly, but the way this matter was handled and implemented has not met the standards people should expect from their employer and we regret the impact this has had on those affected by it. The SEB would like to apologise for the distress this has caused.
“We believe the Disputes Panel’s recommendations are fair and we are pleased to implement them. We would like to thank our staff for their valued and continued service during this time of uncertainty.”
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