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EQUAL PAY ACT QUESTIONNAIRES

By Philip Landau, solicitor, Landau Zeffertt Weir who is pleased to offer Office Chat users a free initial consultation.

email: pl@lawserve.co.uk
Telephone: 020 7357-9494
(web address: http://www.lawserve.co.uk)

From 6th April 2003, provisions in the Equal Pay Act Legislation has meant that individuals are now able to use the Equal Pay Act Questionnaire if they believe that they have not received equal pay. They can request key information from their employers to establish whether this is the case, and if so, the reasons why. The focus of the Questionnaire is to establish whether an individual is receiving less pay, and if so, whether the employer agrees that the people being compared are doing equal work. In the Questionnaire the term "equal work" is used to describe work that is the same, or broadly similar, (known as "like work") or work of equal value.

The term "pay" in the new Questionnaires include bonuses and therefore an employee is able to use the Questionnaire if it is considered that the bonus being paid is less than to a comparative.

In light of the ruling in Barton, employers should be careful not to simply ignore the Questionnaires, as an inference can be drawn from their failure to respond. Employers may, however, have a get out. Although they are expected to answer the Questionnaire as fully as possible, if they are asked to provide information that is confidential to another person (for example the exact details of a colleague's pay package or appraisal review) the employer may have a justifiable excuse in withholding the information if the colleague insists that the information is confidential and should not be disclosed. Furthermore, in many cases, employers will be able to answer detailed questions in general terms, which still preserves the anonymity and confidence of their employees.

Conversely, however, a Tribunal can order specific disclosure of relevant information if they believe it is in the interests of justice to do so.

As can be seen, there are a number of balances and checks in place to ensure the new Equal Pay Questionnaire runs as smoothly as possible. Although it is still early days for the use of the new Questionnaire, employers certainly seem to be at risk of having exposed any hitherto unsavoury practices in the realms of how they remunerate their employees.