Employers wishing to ensure employees keep salary information confidential should ensure that it is included expressly within a contractual confidentiality obligation. Disciplinary policies should also make clear that external (or internal, if appropriate) disclosure without the employer's permission is misconduct.
The EAT in Jagex Ltd v McCambridge confirmed that a duty to keep pay information confidential will not necessarily be implied. It was unfair to dismiss an employee for discussing an executive's salary with colleagues after finding the information on a communal printer. Given that the terms of a contractual confidentiality clause did not cover salary details, his actions did not amount to gross misconduct.
Employers choosing to impose a pay secrecy term should bear in mind that this will be unenforceable in relation to pay disclosures made for the purpose of finding out whether there is unlawful pay discrimination.
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