Substantial equal pay awards highlight the importance of compliance

It has been 6 months since the Employment Tribunal in the UK found that Next could not justify a number of differences in pay, for work of equal value, between a group of predominantly female retail workers and Next’s warehouse operatives, a predominantly male group, resulting in Next potentially facing up to £30 million in compensation payable to 3,540 claimants. Although the decision is one of “first instance”, which can be appealed, there is no doubt that the case and similar equal pay claims which are currently being brought against a number of retailers in the UK has firmly put pay equity in the spotlight. However, equal pay claims are not new and in September 2023 Birmingham City Council declared bankruptcy having paid out over £1bn in equal pay compensation over the previous decade. Although these cases may be on the more extreme side of equal pay cases, they certainly highlight the importance of compliance with equal pay legislation.