1 / 12

AMB International Congress

This article discusses two examples of mass litigation in Employment Tribunals, focusing on equal pay for work of equal value and underpayment of holiday pay. It explores the legal issues and techniques employed in managing large volumes of claims against one or more employers.

kgardner
Télécharger la présentation

AMB International Congress

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. AMB International Congress Two examples of mass litigation in the Employment Tribunal

  2. Managing group/mass litigation • ET s in Scotland and in E and W have had to develop techniques for managing large volumes of claims which raise the same legal issue against one or more employers. • Two recent examples: • 50,000 + claims in Scotland alone for equal pay for work of equal value. • 21,000 + claims in Scotland in connection with alleged underpayment of holiday pay.

  3. Equal pay for work of equal value • Art.157 of Treaty on Functioning of EU requires member states to “ensure that the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value is applied”. • GB does this through the Equality Act 2010 provisions. • Work of equal value means, in essence, a woman holding one type of job can compare her work to a man doing a different job if they work for the same or an associated employer.

  4. Gender based occupational segregation • Still the case that there is typically “men’s work” and “women’s work” in some employment. For example, in local authority employment many women might be found in caring/social work, cleaning, cooking etc while men may dominate in manual trades like building maintenance work, refuse collection etc.

  5. Pay differences • In UK it is not uncommon for jobs mostly be done by men to be paid at a higher rate than jobs mostly done by women. • The pay difference could be but need not be seen in basic hourly rate of pay. It may be that jobs done mostly by men get bonuses and shift allowances that do not apply to women’s jobs.

  6. Origins of the mass equal pay litigation • Newcastle Lawyer – “No Win No Fee” • Trade unions • Local authority – Single Status job evaluation • NHS – Agenda for Change job evaluation • Large volume of claims across Scotland – 2006 onwards

  7. Case management Dedicated Team and EQP Judges • Administrative multiples/combining claims • Single hearings for multiple claims e.g. Stage 1 EV Hearings • Sample and lead cases • Different types of claims – pre and post Single Status

  8. Legal issues • Equal Value Rules of Procedure – Independent Experts • Statutory Grievance Procedure • Multiple comparators • Job evaluation challenges • Appeals

  9. Learning curve • Managing long hearings • Managing expectations • Setting precedents • Developing expertise

  10. Holiday pay cases • There is a statutory definition of a week’s pay in British employment law. • The issue has arisen of whether when calculating holiday pay an employer is allowed just to pay basic pay or whether the holiday pay needs to include additional payments normally made for commission, overtime, bonuses etc?

  11. Holiday pay cases • Under the Working Time Regulations (which implement EU law – Working Time Directive) workers are guaranteed a certain amount of paid holiday every year to make sure they get some rest – this is a health and safety measure. • Argument is made that failing to pay full pay for holidays undermines this EU health and safety measure.

  12. Holiday pay cases • Around 21,000 received in Scotland over 2014/15, many being backed by trade unions. • Case management – specialist team of judges and administrative staff • Similar in some respects to equal pay – multiples/submultiples/lead cases on key issues.

More Related