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Equal pay
In Ratcliffe and others v North Yorkshire County Council the House of Lords upholds a finding that women school catering assistants were entitled to receive the same rate of pay as their male comparators employed by the council on work rated as equivalent.
In Young v University of Edinburgh the EAT finds that an employer can establish a defence to an equal pay claim by showing that the difference in pay was genuinely due to an administrative error, which the employer could not rectify without creating further anomalies.
The principle of equal pay under Article 119 of the EC Treaty only applies where the comparator is in fact of the opposite sex, the EAT holds in Collins v Wilkin Chapman, overruling the decision of an industrial tribunal that a claim could be brought where the comparator is perceived to be of the opposite sex, but is the same sex biologically.
It is not contrary to EC equal pay law to restrict the payment of premium overtime rates only to employees who work more than the designated number of normal full-time hours, holds the European Court of Justice in Stadt Lengerich v Helmig and five joined cases.
In Collins v Wilkin & Chapman, a Nottingham industrial tribunal rules that an equal pay claim may be brought under EC law where the comparator is perceived to be of the opposite sex but is the same sex biologically. In P v S and Cornwall County Council, a Truro industrial tribunal seeks guidance from the European Court of Justice on whether the Equal Treatment Directive prohibits discrimination against a transsexual.
An assessment process for performance-related pay purposes, which led to a woman being paid £780 a year less than men on like work, suffered from confusion, double counting and an absence of transparency, rules a Norwich industrial tribunal (Chair: D R Crome) in Latham v Eastern Counties Newspapers Ltd.
In Thompson v John Blackburn Ltd a Leeds industrial tribunal (Chair: J Prophet) refuses to admit an independent expert's report in equal value proceedings because in its view the expert failed to make clear findings of fact and take proper account of all information represented to her.
In Enderby v Frenchay Health Authority and Secretary of State for Health (27 October 1993) EOR52A, the European Court of Justice rules that it is not sufficient for an employer to show that significant pay differences between female-dominated jobs and male-dominated jobs arose for non-discriminatory reasons.
A woman can claim equal pay with a man working in a different establishment even if her own terms and conditions of employment are not "broadly similar" to his, provided that common terms and conditions are observed at their establishments, either generally or for employees of their respective classes.
In Hayward v Cammell Laird Shipbuilders Limited, the House of Lords rules that a successful equal pay claimant is entitled to have each distinct term in her contract of employment modified so that it is no less favourable than the corresponding term In her comparator's contract.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to equal pay.