Do I have a legal right to be paid the same as a man in the same role with the same experience?
Yes. It is a longstanding principle of EU law that women and men should receive equal pay for carrying out equal work. Under the Equality Act 2010, women are entitled to claim for any more favourable terms contained in the contract of a male counterpart who is carrying out equal work, unless the reason for the difference in treatment is a non-discriminatory material factor. Women also have equal rights to pay rises and are entitled to receive benefits such as bonuses during any year that they are on maternity leave (reduced pro rata to take into account how much of the year they have been at work).
Read more: Hollywood Stars Speak Out For Equal Pay
How can I find out if I'm receiving unfair pay?
It is not always easy to find out if you are being paid less than male colleagues who are carrying out equal work. A good starting point may be to speak to your colleagues. Employers cannot prevent employees from discussing rates of pay if they are only trying to establish whether they are being paid fairly. Alternatively, you could submit a list of questions to your employer to determine whether you might have an equal pay claim. Employers rarely ignore such questions as tribunals are entitled to take into account any refusal to respond or the manner in which they respond in any equal pay or discrimination claim. Where possible you should make clear which colleagues you believe may be being paid more than you for equal work, when submitting questions to your employer.
If your employer has 250 employees or more, it will be required to report on gender pay gaps as of April 2018. Even if your employer reports that there is a gender pay gap, this will not necessarily mean that women in the organisation will be able to establish an equal pay claim under the Equality Act 2010. However, gender pay gap reporting may prompt more women to consider whether they may be being discriminated against. It is also likely to encourage employers to check whether there are any gender pay imbalances in their organisation.
If I am, what should be my next step? Will I have to go to court?
The first step would usually be to have informal discussions with your employer with a view to redressing the pay differential. If informal discussions prove ineffective then the next step would usually be to submit a grievance in accordance with your organisation’s grievance procedure and thereafter exercise any right of appeal. Hopefully, taking these steps will have the desired effect. However, if you have exhausted the internal grievance procedure and are not satisfied with the outcome, then you have the option of bringing a claim against your employer. You will not have to resign in order to bring a claim, if you do not want to, although you will also have the option of resigning and claiming constructive dismissal. You should seek legal advice before resigning or issuing a claim.
What are the potential negatives to pursuing this?
If your employer subjects you to detrimental treatment for having taken any of the above steps (provided you have taken them in a measured and responsible way) this is likely to constitute victimisation under the Equality Act. So, theoretically, apart from any costs you may incur in order to establish whether there is a pay differential and if so whether your employer can justify it (and thereafter in bringing any claim), there should not be any negatives. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that your employer will not victimise you for taking any of these steps, but employment lawyers rarely come across this kind of victimisation so most employers seem to know better than to do this.
What should everyone who is concerned about this issue know?
It is not always obvious to employers that they are not paying men and women equally for equal work, or that their way of calculating remuneration may be indirectly discriminating against female employees in a way that cannot be justified. Often, when this is brought to their attention, they will take appropriate steps to redress the situation or to compensate the employee who has raised the issue. It also may be that, on investigation, an employee will be satisfied that the reason for the pay differential is not in fact discriminatory. Even just knowing this will often make the employee in question feel much better about her position within the organisation and help her to understand what she needs to do to increase her remuneration and further her career. It is therefore usually better to raise the issue if you are concerned, rather than to suffer in silence.
