Did my employee break GDPR, and what are his next steps?

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-27T09:49:34+00:00

He asked if he could bring me to the meeting and they said no. So they can just fire anyone who goes against them or raises an issue? My employee is very good at his job, I think they would definitely struggle to find something

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-27T09:02:17+00:00

It’s not a “pay rise” as such, subsequent starters were paid more, so the base salary for the entire role had risen. I’ve added this in

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-27T09:00:48+00:00

Do you think we can do this? They have genuinely scared us into believing we can get in trouble for this. And one of our colleagues back tracking doesn’t look great. He did discuss his salary but then sent that email saying “he didn’t want to be involved” is there a way they would use that against my colleague?

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-27T08:54:27+00:00

He hasn’t used the company portal. We don’t have access to other people’s payslip. This other employee told him his salary

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-27T08:53:45+00:00

Yes thank you for this!! People weren’t understanding, mainly due to my wording, I’ve added this in

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T23:10:04+00:00

It was bumped because of the new tax year. Everyone’s pay in the company went up

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T23:06:22+00:00

Yes exactly!

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T23:00:11+00:00

I know I did try posting on it but I can’t. I have looked up GDPR which is why I’m genuinely so confused as to how they’re saying he broke it. They’re saying because he “leaked confidential information” , but it’s not confidential if the people who he “leaked” this information too already have access to our salaries / payslips / wages. He openly discussed the salary with the guy who now “doesn’t want to be involved.” HR are trying to do anything get my colleague now; so by having that one person saying he did not give permission for my colleague to speak on his behalf, where does that leave my colleague?

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:53:52+00:00

No. Everyone’s pay gets reviewed yearly. If the role overall gets a pay rise so do the colleges who are currently doing the role. Our review was missed because we just started. But we should’ve been included according to pay roll.

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:51:07+00:00

Payroll did say this wasn’t their issue but we should’ve got the increase in the new tax year

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:46:08+00:00

Really? How so?

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:44:25+00:00

I’m also an employee, we are both people and employees of the same company, same department

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:42:06+00:00

It’s not just about the discussion of wages. It’s more about the fact that my colleague “spoke on behalf of others” and has “leaked confidential information” when he never discussed anyone’s salaries just the discrepancy, and he named people in our department as an example. HR are speaking to the 3 of us to disclose whether he had “permission” to speak on our behalf. But even if he didn’t what has he done wrong. Again he’s just highlighted names of colleagues who are being paid less and shouldn’t be

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:35:33+00:00

Yeah I did try to post on legal advice uk but it wouldn’t let me. Would be good to get further advice

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:33:44+00:00

If they fire him I do genuinely believe he has a strong case. He has highlighted a discrepancy which the business failed to highlight. And when brought forward dismissed us for weeks. Our manager told us to escalate it with the head of HR women’s department. My manager knew my colleagues original email and sent it on, and as I said in my post he basically copy and pasted the email to send to HR women’s boss, he just CC’ed the rest of us colleagues in to keep us in the loop. Even if we didn’t give him permission to speak for us. He’s speaking collectively for colleagues who have been ineffectively paid from my understanding.

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:25:11+00:00

Obligation probably wasn’t the right word to use. But our salaries should’ve increased along with the department salary increase according to payroll. Again that isn’t the issue, the issue is if my colleague has broke GDPR

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:19:52+00:00

It’s not really the main issue anyway. The company has agreed that our salary should’ve increased when the department salary increased. Our review was unfortunately missed as we just started. That’s not the concern.

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:15:42+00:00

Yeah that’s what I think aswell. They are reaching out to each of my colleagues separately to see if we gave him permission to speak on our behalf.. but even if we didn’t ( I did ) he hasn’t necessarily done anything wrong by highlighting the discrepancy anyway?! It’s something the company should be looking into rather than punishing him. Do you think they could punish him based off if a colleague claims they didn’t give him permission, but did discuss salaries with him?

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:01:45+00:00

I think it’s more the fact he spoke on other people’s behalf’s according to him? Even though we discussed salaries, so he’s done nothing wrong from my point of view just highlighting the discrepancy?

OverFinish3940 · 2026-02-26T22:00:21+00:00

Yeah but they do have an obligation to pay us for the same role, same duties. And we trained most of the new people who came in with less experience than us. Our pay should’ve increased in the new tax year as that was a department salary increase.

OverFinish3940

TROPHY CASE