A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling in the case of Abbott and others v South Tyneside Council shows that men can ‘piggy back’ on successful equal pay claims brought by female employees doing similar jobs.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that the 300 men employed in jobs such as caretakers, drivers, leisure centre attendants and care assistants should have been offered the same pay by their employer as the female employees. The male employees had lodged employment tribunal claims about discriminatory bonuses paid to men in better paid jobs around the same time as female employees in similar jobs had lodged equal pay claims between 2003 and 2005. The female claimants won their cases. A compromise deal had been reached between the male employees and their employer in 2006 but was withdrawn by the employer.
The male employees claimed their employer’s action was discriminatory. The employer appealed, but the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that the male employees should have been paid the same as the female employees. The Employment Appeal Tribunal found that it would not be satisfactory if the Equal Pay Act offered no remedy to men in such a situation as it was designed to prevent different rates of pay being applied to men and women doing the same job, therefore the male employees should be allowed to piggy back their equal pay claims on the female employees’ claims.
If you have any queries about the Equal Pay Act, which also covers employee benefits, not just pay, please contact either Ashley Hunt or Vaishali Thakerar on 0116 212 1000 now or complete one of the on-line forms.
