06 October 2006
The European Court of Justice has 'left the door wide open' for employees to challenge public sector bodies that reward long-serving staff with higher salaries, human resources experts are warning.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development claims the October 3 judgment, which found that employers cannot justify differences in pay between employees purely on the grounds of the length of service, will leave many organisations vulnerable in the courts.
The case was brought by the trade union Prospect on behalf of Health and Safety Executive inspector Bernadette Cadman, after she discovered she was earning £9,000 less than male colleagues on the same grade.
The union has been leading the campaign on the issue, arguing that pay scales based on time served discriminate against younger employees and women who have taken time off to have families.
Dianah Worman, the CIPD's head of diversity, said the ruling means employers must be able to demonstrate that higher-paid workers are contributing more to the organisation than their lower-paid colleagues.
'Relying on different lengths of service alone – particularly when you are talking about people who have all been there for more than a few years – will still leave employers liable to expensive losses in front of employment tribunals.
'If challenged, the onus remains on employers to show that they are not discriminating, not on employees to prove that they are being discriminated against.'
Prospect general secretary Paul Noon told Public Finance that the assumption that greater experience meant better performance could be justified only in the early years of employment, but some civil service pay scales were underpinned by that principle for up to 15 years.
He added that, as a result, the ECJ ruling paved the way for his union to successfully challenge 'discriminatory' public sector pay in the British courts, which it would do if the government refused to resolve the issue in discussions.
PFoct2006
