Equal pay protections should be extended to race and disability

Equal pay protections should be extended to race and disability, with pay gap reporting for race and disability made mandatory in line with gender pay gap reporting, CILEX has argued.

The introduction of an independent equality pay enforcement unit, stronger penalties for breaches of equal pay legislation, streamlining of employment tribunal processes and greater powers for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) should all also be considered in order to combat pay inequalities.

At present it is only possible to bring an equal pay claim on the basis of gender, while those who believe they are paid less due to race or disability must pursue a more costly, full discrimination claim.

Responding to an Office for Equality and Opportunity consultation on existing equality legislation and possible equality law reform, CILEX said the same rights should be extended to tackle the persistent ethnicity and disability pay gap present in the UK. Gender pay gap reporting applies to businesses with at least 250 staff.

Relying on voluntary pay gap reporting alone – currently undertaken by only 15% of employers for ethnicity and 10% for disability – would not be sufficient to “tackle the root causes of pay discrimination across disability and race in the UK”. CILEX acknowledged that this would need to be backed up by practical guidance and support for businesses on meaningful data collection that was both accurate and inclusive of diverse groups of employees, and on how to rectify pay disparities.

Given one of the main barriers for making an equal pay claim was the length and complexity of the current employment tribunal process, CILEX agreed with the introduction of the enforcement unit, which if properly resourced, could “significantly reduce the time and costs of litigation”.

CILEX also recommended greater powers for the EHRC to enforce strong and immediate sanctions for non-compliance. Given that many employees did not bring claims due to fear of “retaliation or victimisation”, it argued as well that other individuals or organisations – such as charities and trade unions – should be able to bring claims on their behalf, including through group actions or representative claims.

CILEX called on the government to revisit current legislative gaps in the Equality Act 2010 that omit combined and dual discrimination, recommending that discussions around section 14 – which prohibits direct discrimination because of a combination of two protected characteristics but has never been brought into force – take place to resolve this lack of legislative protection that could result in additional time, cost and emotional distress for both claimant and employer.

Then CILEX president Yanthé Richardson stressed that tackling the persistent pay inequality and discrimination around race and disability was a priority and that CILEX “strongly supports bringing in further protections under equal pay legislation alongside stronger enforcement powers and measures to make it more straightforward for employees to bring a claim”.

She said mandatory reporting would not only provide valuable data to highlight where pay disparities were appearing and why, but it would also “drive behavioural change”.

She highlighted the impact gender pay gap reporting has had on reducing pay discrimination and said broadening this to encompass race and disability “will force businesses to tackle the undoubted pay gaps that exist”.