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Equal pay for everyone - including men!

02 July 2009

There has been much media interest in the extensive equal pay litigation brought by women against local authorities over the past few years.

So it might be easy to forget that the Equal Pay Act 1970 applies ‘equally' to men.

And just because the majority of the reported cases have been against public sector employers, it should not be overlooked by those in the private sector: the tentacles of equal pay are long indeed.

A recent decision relating to so called ‘piggy back claims' starkly demonstrates the full extent of the legislation and may come as something of a shock to many employers.

In South Tyneside v McAvoy, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently held that where a woman brings an equal pay claim against a man, any men who earned as little as the woman can now ‘piggy back' her claim and will be entitled to the same upgrade in pay she gets.

It was also decided that it is not premature for male claims to be issued prior to the resolution of their female comparators' claims.

Comment

This is an important extension to the previously understood scope of equal pay law and has serious financial implications for employers. There are believed to be approximately 12,000 male claims currently stayed awaiting the outcome of this case.

Given the importance of the issues raised by this case, permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal has been granted so this is unlikely to be the last we hear of the issue.

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