Equal pay for employees

The ‘equality of terms’ provisions in the Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”) apply to pay inequality between men and women. The Act covers all contractual terms such as salary, contractual bonus payments and benefits. Complaints about non-contractual matters such as allocation of work, access to promotion and discretionary bonus payments are normally brought as sex discrimination claims, rather than equal pay claims.

The Act entitles a women (or a man) doing equal work to a colleague of the opposite sex in the same employment to claim equal pay where she can show that she is employed on:

  • Work which is the same or broadly similar (known as ‘like work); or
  • Work which is rated as equal under a job evaluation scheme; or
  • Work which is of equal value (work which is different but of equal value in terms of the demands of the job when factors such as effort, skill and decision making are considered).

We are regularly instructed by senior executives to deal with their complaints of equal pay and sex discrimination. In particular, we have substantial experience of pursuing equal pay claims on behalf of women in the financial services sector.

Recent experience:

  • Acting for a senior sales manager and issuing a claim for sex discrimination, pregnancy and maternity discrimination and breach of the equal pay provisions against a global bank and negotiating a high value settlement (circa £300,000)
  • Drafting Equality of Terms Questionnaire on behalf of a senior executive and persuaded an Employment Tribunal to order a large financial services company to disclose earnings information of male colleagues and details of all previous complaints relating to equal pay and sex discrimination

If you would like to speak on a confidential basis to one of our solicitors about an equal pay matter, please call us on 0203 178 5360.