Government to speed up and simplify equal pay cases - Wilson

11 Dec 2000

New Government proposals to speed up and simplify equal pay cases will help to ensure that thousands of women across Scotland are treated fairly in the workplace, Scotland Office Minister Brian Wilson said today.

Welcoming the consultation paper published today, Mr Wilson said:

"Since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act thirty years ago, the gender pay gap has halved from 37 per cent to 18 per cent but that is still too high. The Government is determined that everyone is paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

"The consultation paper recommends cutting the length of time it can take for an equal pay claim to be heard as well as simplifying the procedure for bringing a case. It builds on existing measures the Government has introduced to ensure fair treatment for women and men in the workplace, including the National Minimum Wage, New Deal for Lone Parents, Work-Life Balance campaign and regulations to ensure full rights for part-time workers.

"As well as looking for responses to the conultation paper, we also want suggestions on how the Equal Pay Act can be streamlined and how the handling of sex discrimination cases can be improved. I urge workers, employers and organisations across Scotland to respond positively to this consultation and make their views on these vital issues known."

NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS

  1. Proposals in the consultation paper inlude:
  • introducing a questionnaire to help women get key information from their employer;
  • simplifying multiple cases so that just one form needs to be completed where a group of women have essentially the same case;
  • removing a loophole which allowed tribunals summarily to dismiss a claim before it was properly investigated;
  • helping tribunals to decide cases more quickly by calling in an 'assessor' to give expert advice;
  • limiting expert evidence to that given by an independent expert appointed by the tribunal, to prevent the delays and confusion caused by lots of different experts giving oral evidence; and
  • removing the unnecessarily long and detailed tribunal rules for equal value cases, merging the necessary items with the normal rules

2. The Equal Pay Act 1970 provides for equal pay between women and men in the same employment by giving a woman (or man) the right to equality in the terms of her (or his) contract of employment when she (or he) is employed: on like work; work that is rated as equivalent; or work of equal value. A woman who believes she has a right to equal pay with a man (or vice versa) but whose employer will not give her equal pay may apply to an employment tribunal for a ruling on whether she is entitled to equal pay.

3. The consultation document is available free by telephoning Prolog on 0845 602260 and giving reference EPCONSULT. It is also on the DfEE’s Website at http://www.dfee.gov.uk/consultations/equal pay. Responses are sought by 19 February. The E-mail address is equalpayCONSULT@DFEE.GOV.UK