Homepage Education Events Research Resources Executive Pay
Show News
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. EEF warns of confidentiality problems with equal pay questionnaires

EEF warns of confidentiality problems with equal pay questionnaires

PAY DISCRIMINATION

EEF warns of confidentiality problems with equal pay questionnaires  

Employers risk inadvertently breaking confidentiality rules on disclosure of information on equal pay claims without a clearer indication of their responsibilities from the government, according to the Engineering Employers Federation.

Response to consultation paper

In its response to the Department of Trade and Industry's consultation paper Towards Equal Pay: Speed and simplicity, the EEF said that while it supports the overall principle of the introduction of a questionnaire for the handling of equal pay claims, it has two major concerns.

  • First, the guidance does not give employers a "proper steer" on how they should respond to requests from complainants for confidential information about their colleagues, particularly where proceedings have not yet been issued. Without stronger guidance employers could inadvertently breach rights to privacy.

The EEF recommends that the guidance be amended to inform an employer more precisely of its obligations. "It should explicitly make clear that different rules are likely to apply if the questionnaire has been served where proceedings have not been issued. In this case, confidentiality should not be broken and the consent of the individual comparator should be obtained before disclosure," says the EEF.

  • Secondly, with regard to the overall format, the EEF is concerned that the content of the proposed draft questionnaire and its guidance notes does not adequately reflect the existing approach to disclosure of information applied by the courts in equal pay cases.

This approach prevents those making discrimination complaints - including an equal pay complaint - from undertaking a "fishing expedition" to gather evidence in circumstances where they have not established that there is some basis for their complaint. This principle ensures that employees are able to pursue genuine grievances about inequality in pay without placing a disproportionate and unnecessary burden on employers.

The EEF recommends that, in order to be entitled to ask questions of the employer (and, correspondingly, for the employer to be under any obligation to respond), the complainant should expressly be required to show that she has at least some grounds (or belief) for making a complaint.

A final word

"The Government needs to modify its proposals about equal pay questionnaires. Simple changes to request confidentiality and prevent them being used for inappropriate purposes would not undermine the overall aim of the questionnaire. Without these common sense changes, employers will be exposed to unnecessary risks." - Peter Martin, director of employment policy, EEF.

Want to know more?

Visit www.eef.org.uk to view the EEF's response to the consultation paper on equal pay questionnaires.

Consultation on equal pay questionnaire

The 2002 Employment Act provides for a statutory equal pay questionnaire intended to speed up equal pay cases. Consultation on the questionnaire ended on 10 January 2003.

The questionnaire is intended to help individuals who believe they may not have received equal pay to obtain information from their employers to find out whether this is the case, and if so, why.

Posted 24 January 2003