EAT EQUAL PAY ACT
TRANSFER OF UNDERTAKINGS – Transfer
Glasgow Council decided it would no longer perform work of providing leisure and recreational services; of providing parking and parking enforcement services; and of providing care services by using directly employed labour. Its staff in each of the three areas were transferred to respectively a Community Interest company, Glasgow Life, and two LLPs – ‘Parking’, and Cordia. The employees wished to be able to compare their terms and conditions of employment with those still in the direct employment of Glasgow Council in other departments for the purposes of equal pay claims. To do so, the CIC and the two LLPs both needed to be ‘associated employers’ within the meaning of s.1(6) Equal Pay Act 1970, or their pay had to be attributable to a ‘single source’. A Tribunal held that whereas the CIC was an associated employer, neither LLP was, since an LLP was not a ‘company’ within the meaning of the statute. Nor, despite the extremely close control which Glasgow Council maintained over the personnel of the boards of each, and over their operations, which were subject to the power to require them to act as Glasgow Council directed, and to audit by Glasgow Council, was there a single source within the meaning the law attributed to that concept. Held A ‘company’ within the meaning of s.1(6) EqPA was not restricted to a limited company registered under the Companies Acts. It could mean a body persons, and since s.1(6) was to be seen as an anti-avoidance provision should purposively be construed to that effect, such that an LLP was within its meaning. Though obiter, in consequence of the decision on 1(6), the rejection of there being a ‘single source’ was also in error. The appeals by two of the groups of claimants was therefore allowed, but a separate appeal by GMB claimants on a different point (whether a Respondent should be discharged from the proceedings) was rejected.
Permission was granted to appeal to the Inner House of the Court of Session.
Judges:
Langstaff J P
Citations:
[2013] UKEAT 0027 – 12 – 2501
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment, Scotland, Discrimination
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.471779
