THE right of women to receive equal pay with men for doing the same job even if they work in different locations – which led to a huge claim by Glasgow City Council staff - was scrapped after Brexit, it has emerged.
The ditching of the regulation, which allows women to claim the same pay and terms with men if they work for the same “source” setting their terms and conditions, was one of the Brussels-derived laws dispensed with under the EU Retained Law Bill.
The UK Government has now said it is planning to reinstate the law later this year, the Financial Times has reported.
It comes after senior Labour figures told the FT the party would introduce a pledge to reinstate the previous protections if it won the next General Election.
A long-running dispute between female workers and Scotland’s largest council came to an end with Glasgow agreeing to pay around £770million to settle the equal pay claim to around 19,000 former and current workers.
The case was brought over a pay grade system which saw some male workers paid more than women in equivalent roles.
Thousands of women are also currently engaged in an equal pay battle with supermarkets, over concerns roles on the shop floor are not paid at the same rate as jobs of mainly male colleagues in distribution centres.
A blog from law firm Linklater warned earlier this year after the EU Retained Law Bill was passed in Parliament that “directly effective rights” from EU treaties will not longer be recognised or enforceable from the end of 2023.
“An important example of a directly effective right is article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which enshrines the principle that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work,” it stated.
“Although claimants will still have the protection of the equal pay provisions of the Equality Act 2010, article 157 allows for comparisons with workers who were not employed by the same or an associated employer, but whose terms and conditions were attributable to a single source.”
It added: “Article 157 is currently being relied upon by thousands of female supermarket workers in their claims for pay parity with male distribution workers.
“Although their claims can continue, article 157 cannot be relied upon by future claimants in respect of acts occurring after the end of 2023.”
A UK Government spokesperson told the FT: “There will be absolutely no reduction in equal pay protections.
“The new secondary legislation will be laid in Parliament long before the end of the year.”
A spokesperson for the GMB union said: “If [these] reports are accurate, then Conservative ministers have caused months of confusion for no purpose.
“This must be part of a wider package of reforms to finally tackle the historic injustice of pay discrimination.”
