Newbury & Thatcham: Gardner Leader predicts possible changes to equal pay policies

Gardner Leader, leading Newbury & Thatcham solicitors, is predicting reviews of business pay policies after a landmark case opens the way for women employees to compare themselves to male workers, even if they work at different sites or in different jobs, for the purposes of equal pay claims. 

The landmark judgment against Dumfries and Galloway Council involved 251 classroom and nursery assistants who compared their terms of employment with those of male manual workers, such as refuse collectors, road workers and groundsmen based at various sites in the local authority’s area. These male employees were paid bonuses on top of their basic pay and the women claimed that paying such bonuses to men who did jobs of ‘equal value’ was in breach of the equal pay legislation.

The argument would have been simple if the female classroom assistants and the male groundsmen, for example, had been employed under the same collective agreement. But the women were employed under one set of conditions while the men were employed under another.

The case was first heard by an employment tribunal which considered if the men had had been employed in the schools and nurseries, would they have been subject to the same pay conditions as the women. The tribunal concluded that the men would not have been. This decision was appealed but the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the original tribunal.

This ruling is expected to give women more opportunity to establish if their work is of ‘equal value’ to that of the men they chose to compare themselves with. This will have a particular impact on smaller businesses which often negotiate pay with employees on an individual basis.

Julie Taylor, associate in the Gardner Leader employment team, said: “All businesses should review their approach to pay, and in particular be aware that individual employees should not be favoured on the assumption this is private – in reality that may not be the case. Having an equal pay policy that is adhered to is the safest option.”

Following this judgment in the case of North and others v Dumfries and Galloway Council, the case will now be returned to the Employment Tribunal to determine whether the work carried out was of equal value to these male employees accepted as comparators, and whether the Council has a material defence to the equal pay claims.