Yesterdayís ECJ ruling still leaves employers who pay men and women at different rates for similar jobs wide open to legal challenge, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Dianah Worman, Diversity Adviser at the CIPD, has warned employers not to become complacent in response to the ECJ ruling, and to ensure that they have a very strong business case for any wide discrepancies between the pay of men and women old and young employed in their firms.
Dianah Worman said:
ìThis judgement is a confirmation of much that we already knew. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling is a reminder to employers that they cannot just rely on the fact that a woman has been employed for less time than her male counterparts.
ìWhile the court has concluded that long service can be a valid reason to pay one worker more than another, they have left the door wide open for challenges to employers from individual employees. Unions were seeking a knock-out blow to unequal pay from the ECJ. They havenít got that, but they landed a punch, and could still win many cases on points.
ìThe simple rule is, if you are paying men and women at different rates for the same job, then you must still have a very strong business case for doing it. Relying on different lengths of service alone ñ particularly when you are talking about people who have all been there for more than a few years ñ will still leave employers liable to expensive losses in front of employment tribunals.
ìWeíd still strongly advise employers to review their reward schemes and ensure that they can make a case for why higher paid workers are adding more value to the business than lower paid ones. Those who become complacent on the back of this complex ruling from the ECJ could easily wind up writing big cheques to employees who challenge unequal pay in the courts. If challenged, the onus remains on employers to show that they are not discriminating, not on employees to prove that they are being discriminated against.î
ECJ equal pay ruling is not the knock-out blow the unions were seeking
ECJ equal pay ruling is not the knock-out blow the unions were seeking, but employers still likely to lose many individual cases on points
