PAY DISCRIMINATION
Proposals for speeding up equal pay claims
Plans for a wide-ranging overhaul of equal pay procedures were unveiled by government ministers in December 2000. The government wants to cut red tape to speed up equal pay hearings, employment minister Tessa Jowell said.
The government document, with the title 'Towards equal pay for women', sets out proposals so that equal pay cases are quicker, easier and fairer for everyone .
Ms Jowell said:
Speedier and simpler equal pay tribunals are vital if we are to achieve equality for women, who now make up almost half of Britain’ s workforce. The gender pay gap has halved from 37% when the Equal Pay Act was brought in thirty years ago to 18% now, but it is still too high.
Proposals include:
shortening and simplifying the rules on how tribunals deal with equal pay cases
helping tribunals to decide cases more quickly by calling in an assessor to give expert advice
simplifying claims procedures where a group of women have essentially the same case
cutting out the delays caused by lots of different experts giving evidence — just the independent expert appointed by the tribunal will give evidence
removing a loophole which allowed tribunals to dismiss a claim before it was properly investigated
questionnaires for women to get key information from employers when deciding whether to bring a case.
replace the two-year time limit on back pay in equal pay cases with a six-year time limit.
Want to know more?
The consultation document is available on the Department for Education and Employment's web site at . . . http://www2.dfee.gov.uk/consultations/consult_doc.cfm?CONID=6
The deadline for comments is 19 February 2001. Send your responses to equalpayconsult@dfee.gov.uk