You are in: Home Page | About Thompsons | Information and Resources | LELR

29th April 2010

NEWS IN BRIEF

There were two important developments for equal pay claimants last week.

The first is the case of South Tyneside Borough Council v McAvoy and ors (weekly LELR 129), in which the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said that a man can compare himself with a woman bringing an equal pay claim with a higher paid male comparator. The employers had appealed to the Court of Appeal but it has just been reported that they have just settled the case, with the result that the decision of the EAT stands.

The second development is in the long-running saga of Potter v North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (No 2) (now Fox & Others v North Cumbria University NHS Trust (No 2)).

This case was concerned with the impact of the introduction of Agenda for Change in the NHS and the question of whether it had triggered the six-month limitation period under the Equal Pay 1970.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal said that it did not because Agenda for Change was simply a variation of the employment contracts of affected staff and did not terminate them. The significance of this decision was that claimants were not out of time for bringing equal pay claims.

The Court of Appeal has now agreed with the EAT although for different reasons. Relying on the case of Slack v Cumbria County Council, it said that Agenda for Change did not have the effect of terminating the employment contracts of staff who were employed when it was introduced. The six-month limit therefore only started to run when and if any of those employees terminated their employment with the Trust.

Also this week

Company Liability

Market Rates