Equal pay

Case 7: The facts

This case was one of the test cases in the equal pay claims brought by NHS workers in the North East of England. The workers claimed that their work was of equal value to their comparators and an independent expert had been instructed to carry out job analysis reports. Most of the claims were backdated for six years and it transpired that there had been some changes to the jobs during that period. There was therefore a dispute about the date at which the evaluation should be carried out.

The ruling

The EAT said it was clear that the question of whether or not a claimant and her comparator(s) were doing work of equal value had to be answered in respect of the whole period to which the claim related. However, for effective case management it was appropriate in this case for the initial job analysis reports to be carried out as at the date the claims were brought. If necessary, further analyses could be undertaken for the rest of the period at a later stage.

The EAT warned against parties alleging changes to job content in an attempt to complicate proceedings and also noted that a job could include certain duties which may only have to be done irregularly but nevertheless formed part of that job and should be included in the evaluation.