October 20, 2010
Equal pay claims in the private sector look set to rise following new research from legal experts.
One leading law firm has found that 84% of private sector employees claim that unequal pay is a major issue within their businesses, with around a quarter of those labelling the issue “endemic”.
Of those surveyed, 58% had come across real-life situations of pay inequality in the workplace. Three-quarters (76%) believed that discrepancies between the salaries of male and female workers doing the same job still exist 40 years after the Equal Pay Act 1970, which was introduced to dampen and eventually squeeze out the effects of gender-relevant pay scales.
30% of HR bosses blame the reasons for inequality on the fact that it is generally men who are in top positions and determine salaries.
27% said it was a result of taking time out to have children, 26% cited a ‘culture of secrecy’, while 17% believe a lack of assertiveness among female workers is to blame.
“It’s always been a surprise to me that equal pay claims have largely been limited to the public sector and I envisage claims in the private sector will be a big theme in the next few years,” said Jim Lister, an employment expert who examined the research.
The figures follow recent reports from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which suggested that efforts to close the pay gap between men and women in Britain have “ground to a halt” in wake of the recent recession.
How Fair is Britain? Published by the EHRC earlier this month, revealed that the average gender pay gap for women and men working full-time was 16.4%, rising to 27% for women aged 40.
If you’ve fallen victim to gender inequality in the workplace consult one of our solicitors today and we will do all we can to ensure such issues do not go uncompensated.
