Injustice and the rich and famous: How reliable!

Even the rich and famous are subjected to sex discrimination and equal pay issues. I would like to say that I am surprised, but after 20 years as an employment lawyer in the City, sadly I am not. There are endless women who have passed through our offices to sign settlement agreements in the knowledge they will not be the ones to fall on their sword to put the world right. The recent BBC publication of its stars earnings has shown that its top male stars earn much MUCH more than their female colleagues. For example, Huw Edwards earned between £550,000 to £599,999 whilst Fiona Bruce earned between £350,000 to £399,999 and- surprise surprise, they both perform similar roles being newsreaders. Employers must be warned and reminded (repeatedly) that they are under a duty to ensure that their employees who do equal work are paid the same amount regardless of gender. If not there is a risk of an equal pay and possibly a general discrimination claim being made. Employers can only pay a man more than a woman for doing equal work (and the same principal applies vice versa), if they can prove that the variation in pay is due to a material factor which is not directly or indirectly discriminatory. This may include past performance seniority and length of service. It is also worth noting that Employers with 250 or more employees are now under a duty to provide gender pay gap reports, with the first reports due to be published in April 2018. If you would like my summary notes on gender pay gap reporting, email me for a copy on hina@partnerslaw.co.uk To receive regular alerts from us, make sure you have signed up to our blogg here: http://www.partnerslaw.co.uk/subscribe/