Equal pay claims must be brought within 6 months of the end of employment or, if the employee has worked on a series of different contracts, from the end of the "stable working relationship". The EAT in Barnard v Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority ruled that a promotion to a new managerial role did not break the stable working relationship, given that there was a natural and incremental progression within the same department entirely consistent with the continuity of the relationship. The employee was therefore not out of time to bring equal pay claims in respect of her earlier roles prior to her promotion.
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The EAT in Co-operative Group Ltd v Walker has confirmed that an employer's valid material factor defence to an equal pay claim continued to apply until the employer made a further pay-related decision, or omitted to do so having become aware of a pay disparity. The employer had carried out a job evaluation study identifying a pay disparity in the claimant's salary, but had successfully established a material factor defence explaining the pay one year earlier. The tribunal considered that this meant the defence had ceased to be relevant at some point part way through the year, but the EAT ruled that the employer's defence continued to operate until a further decision or omission to decide pay could be identified. On the facts there had been no pay round in the intervening period, and the claimant had not made any request for her pay to be reviewed.
Note that an appeal is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal in July 2020.
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