Equal Pay Law: The Equal Pay Act of 1970

The Equal Pay Act of 1970 prevents discrimination in employment where it advocates for equal treatment in men and women's terms and conditions in the contracts (Legislation.gov.uk, n.d.). The act was the first set of UK legislation that promotes gender-equal pay providing for guidelines on how an individual can claim equal pay when they compare themselves with comparators of the opposite sex. The claimer must prove that they are employed in like work, work of rated as equivalent, and of equal value (Close the Gap, 2016). The implementation of the Equal Pay Act 1970 was spurred by the 187 striking women machinists at the Fords' Dagenham Factory (TUC, 2020). The women had a pay degrade from their employee following the job class changes that termed them as unskilled labourers. They claimed that they were unfairly graded in 'class B' while the men doing a similar job in the factor were graded 'class C' which was higher and involved skilled labour (TUC, 2020). The Ford Machinists inspired the founding of women trade union duped NJACCWER, which mobilised more than 1000 protestors to hold equal pay demonstrations in Trafalgar Square (TUC, 2020). The protest, together with the continued strikes in Ford, directly led to the formulation of the Equal Pay Act 1970. This paper seeks to explore the Equal Pay Act 1970, which is the 1970 Chapter 41 of UK legislation, emphasising on-time limit to bring a claim, the onus being on the employee, tribunal fees and discuss the ineffectiveness that led to change to Equality Act 2010.

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Chapter 41

The UK Queen enacted the 1970 Chapter 41 following the advice of the House of Lords and Commons. Section 1 provides for equal employment terms and treatment for both men and women, where it explores the equal work. It states women and men in like work should have the same terms and conditions, and no gender should be less favoured than the other, similarly for work-related as equivalent. Section 2 provides for the grounds in which employment disputes involving enforcement of equal treatment shall be solved. The industrial tribunal determines claims of a failure to comply with the terms in women's employment contract as stipulated in section 1(3) or somewhat equal pay clause. Section 3 focuses on the collective agreements and pay structures where those made before the act was commenced shall be reviewed with the guidance of the Secretary of State to the Industrial court. It provides for the guidelines of formulating an agreement to eliminate discrimination between men and women. Section 4 states the wages regulation orders, while section five focuses on agricultural wages orders. Sections 6 to 10 focuses on service and police pay as well as the enforcement of the legislation.

Time limits to bring a claim

Equal Pay Act 1970 requires that equal pay claim be lodged with the employment tribunal within the six months after termination of employment (EHRC, 2019). In a broader sense, the six months limit starts to count as soon as the claimant leaves him the job or stops working for the employer. If they are still working for the employer, then the time limit does not count. The time limit may be affected by numerous factors including incapacity of claimants, conciliation of pay inequality by the employer, claimant engagement in more than one contract, the claimant is in employed in the armed forces and changes in the claimant employment contract (EHRC, 2019).

The onus of being an employee

According to the UK employment law, when the claimant allegations on the employer are filed, and case reaches the Employment tribunal, the claimant has the onus of providing evidence showing that discrimination occurred to allow the accused present a defence (Beattie, 2019). The burden of proof shifts to the accused or rather the employer, and therefore their defence must provide evidence that the claimant was fairly treated. The employee focus on providing further evidence to prove discriminatory actions in the workplace where they were treated worse in comparison with other employees because they possess a protected characteristic (Beattie, 2019).

Tribunal fees

Tribunal fees are the cost incurred while lodging claims in the employment tribunal. The fees were first implemented in 2013 under the Employment Tribunals, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal Fees order 2013 (Pyper et al., 2017; Ministry of Justice, 2017). Before the formulation of the legislation, claimants were not required to make any payments while making claims on employment-related issues. The tribunal fees were different depending on the nature of the complaint and ranged from PS390 to PS1200, and the claimant needed to pay it to issue their application be heard (BBC News, 2017).

In 2017, the Supreme Court dismissed the tribunal fees terming it as unlawful and a barrier to people's right to access justice. Following the court decision, employment appeals and tribunal claims do not attract charges. The government announced its roll-out plan to refund the fees amounting to PS32m to those who had paid the tribunal fees from 2013 to 2017 (BBC News, 2017).

Since the introduction of tribunal fees in 2013, the number of cases received by the employment tribunals had declined. The statistics indicate that the number of claims received from individuals by the courts each quarter of the year since its introduction to 2017 had declined by 68 per cent compared to the last quarter that ended in June 2013 (Pyper et al., 2017). The number of group cases (those presented by more than one person) reduced by 75 per cent in the same period mentioned with this. After the abolition of the tribunal fees, an upward trajectory in the number of cases was realised averaging at pre-2013 levels (Pyper et al., 2017).

Why the Equal Pay Act of 1970 was not successful and replaced by the Equality Act 2010

The Equal Pay Act 1970 only allowed for actual comparator rather a real person in the process of lodging a claim which means that the claimant could not use hypothetical comparator while explaining the discriminatory action on her compared to other employees (Middlemiss, 2011). The act was restrictive in that like work not only required the claimant to be taking the same type of job but also be employed by the same employer, which invalidated many claims. Besides, occupation segregation was prevalent where there were sectors and employment dominated by one gender, which made it difficult to find a comparator, especially from the opposite sex.

There was need constitute employment laws as a single act since most of the aspects presented in different cases were outside the scope of specific law like the Equal Pay Act 1970. For example, a claim on sex discrimination which related to contractual pay was outside the Equal Pay Act since it did not accommodate contractual payment (Middlemiss, 2011). In another example, when claiming race discrimination or harassment, the complaint would not apply under the Equal pay Act 1970 but rather in the Race Relations Act 1976 (GOV.UK, 2015). Further, even after years of enforcement, the legislation was not in a position to close the gender pay gap. There were no noticeable differences in statistics before its initiation and after its implementation thus required more provisions and hence the Equality Act 2010.

In conclusion, the Equal Pay Act of 1970 is contained in Chapter 41of the UK legislation. The act was first implemented following strikes and demonstrations in a view to seeking equal pay between men and women in workplaces. The act provides the procedure of claiming the employment tribunals. Although the law assisted in curbing gender pay gap, it was relatively slow in achieving its objectives and hence the provisions in the Equality Act 2010.

References

Beattie, A. (2019). The burden of Proof | Croner. Croner. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://croner.co.uk/resources/equality-discrimination/discrimination/burden-of-proof/.

Close the Gap, (2016). Equal Pay Act 1970. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://www.closethegap.org.uk/content/gap-law-1970/EHRC, (2019). Equal pay for equal work: what the law says. Equality and Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/equal-pay-equal-work-what-law-saysEmployment tribunal fees ruled unlawful, Supreme court rules. BBC News. (2017). Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40727400.

GOV.UK (2015). Equality Act 2010: Guidance, Information on guidance on the Equality Act 2010, including age discrimination and public sector Equality Duty. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidanceLegislation.gov.uk, (n.d.) Equal Pay Act 1970: 1970 Chapter 41. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1970/41/enactedMiddlemiss, S. (2011). Equal Pay legislation and its impact on the gender pay gap. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law. doi: 10.1177/1358229112440442

Ministry of Justice, (2017). Review of the introduction of fees in the Employment Tribunals: Consultation on proposals for reforms. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587649/Review-of-introduction-of-fees-in-employment-tribunals.pdfPyper, D., McGuinness, F., & Brown, J. (2017). Employment Tribunal fees. House of Commons Library. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN07081/SN07081.pdfTUC, (2020). How Ford's striking women drove the Equal Pay Act. Trade Union Congress. Retrieved 25 April 2020, from https://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace-guidance/case-studies/how-fords-striking-women-drove-equal-pay-act