EAT EQUAL PAY ACT: Article 141/European law
EQUAL PAY ACT: Material factor defence and justification
The claimant contended that a system which rewarded pay in part by reference to length of service constituted a breach of the Equal Pay Act 1970. She accepted that the nature of the job was one where job performance would be likely to improve with experience for the first few years, but submitted that the employer was not justified in applying it over a ten year period. The employment tribunal agreed and considered that five years would have been the appropriate period. However, they held that the effect of the decision of the ECJ in Cadman v HSE [2006] ICR 1623 was that as long as the nature of the job was such that some differential based on length of service could be justified, the tribunal could not thereafter question the particular way in which the criterion was applied. Accordingly, since it was conceded that some link was justified, the appeal failed.
The EAT upheld the appeal and held that this was too restrictive a reading of the Cadman decision.
Observation on the effect of that decision and how tribunals should approach cases of this kind.
Citations:
[2008] UKEAT 0050 – 08 – 1912, [2009] IRLR 282, [2009] ICR 498, [2009] 2 CMLR 8
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Wilson v Health and Safety Executive CA 20-Oct-2009
The employer appealed against a finding that it had acted in an equal pay claim in allowing for length of service.
Held: The employer’s appeal was dismissed. Decisions based on length of service tended to discriminate against women, because . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, Discrimination, European
Updated: 30 July 2022; Ref: scu.279797
