House rules not followed due to (unrecorded) 1 year seniority

Questioner

April 1, 2020 I started at my current employer. I signed an employment contract and house rules for 1 year. After 1 year we agreed that we wanted to continue together and my contract was extended for a permanent contract. The internal regulations provide for annual inflation and an adjustment of the individual salary depending on the assessment. I did not receive either of these for the following 2 reasons; 1. As of calendar year 2017, it was decided to fill in the salary allocation differently and therefore no longer apply a fixed annual wage indexation. The total budget, of that fixed annual wage indexation and the remaining budget that was used for individual wage adjustments, has since been fully used in function of the evaluation system.  this letter was before my time, I was not aware of it. I never received or signed this. 2. New employees are not eligible for this in their first year of employment, so you will be eligible for this as of April 2022, during the evaluations for fiscal year 2021  this is also not described anywhere and I was not aware of it. I assumed that my salary would be adjusted as of April 1 based on my performance and inflation. I do not agree with this and think that this is unlawful. I wonder on the basis of which rights/obligations I can obtain my rights (without fighting this out legally). I am very satisfied with my employer and do not want a negative atmosphere. However, I do want to obtain my rights from the HR department. I am curious about your advice.

Lawyer

It depends on what exactly is in the documents. To the best of your knowledge, have the internal regulations you received been amended after 2017 and is the same version available through the company? In addition, it is important whether your contract contains anything about (exclusion of) salary increases. Finally, it is also important to know whether there is a CAO. If none of this is the case, you have signed an agreement with rules and no changes have been announced. Then it could be argued that you are entitled to such a salary increase this year at least (also depending on the assessment). You could ask HR again, with information based on the above questions, for a pay rise. Signing a permanent contract is often used as a moment to increase pay. If this has not been the case with you, you can use this as additional motivation. Please feel free to contact me if you require legal assistance.