EQUAL PAY
An Employment Tribunal was charged with determining whether a ‘stable working relationship’ was preserved when an employee had been promoted through a series of ranks. The concept of a ‘stable employment relationship’ was created by the European Court of Justice in Preston and Others v Wolverhampton Healthcare NHS Trust and Others [2000] ICR 961, a case concerned with women whose equal pay claims had been held to be time limited because their employment had not been continuous. The term was inserted into the Equal Pay Act 1970, in 2003, and, in the Equality Act 2010, was changed to ‘stable working relationship’. In neither Act was the relevant term defined, and, in the Authorities which have considered it, the focus has been on the temporal nature of the employment relationship, and any breaks therein, and not on a changing work pattern over a continuous period of employment. Although words such as ‘fundamental’ ‘radical’ and ‘significant’ have been used in describing the degree of change in terms of employment required to bring an end to the stable employment/working relationship, there has been no guidance as to the practical application of the test.
In the present case, the Employment Tribunal (which had very limited assistance from the case law) made only brief factual findings and failed to identify the proper nature of the test which it was purporting to apply. Accordingly, the findings under appeal were held to be perverse and also not ‘Meek’- compliant, in failing properly to explain the basis for the Tribunal’s decision. The case would be remitted to a fresh Employment Tribunal, with the recommendation that a constitution which included Lay Members would be advisable.
Citations:
[2018] UKEAT 00179 – 18 – 1210
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 30 June 2022; Ref: scu.630729
