EU Equal Pay laws – to be retained
When the UK was part of the EU, we adopted EU law on Equal Pay. But, following the UK vote to leave the EU in 2006, which took effect on 31 January 2020, the law governing UK equal pay needed reviewing.
It was confirmed this week, that the Government will retain the EU-style employment law surround equal pay.
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Women will still have the right to equal pay with men when an EU protection lapses at the end of this year and their rights to demand equal pay have been protected.
The EU legal protection, known as the "single source test", which covers equal pay, lapses this year due to Brexit.
The single source test protects women, especially those working women whose roles have been outsourced, who otherwise might be vulnerable to unequal pay.
The "single source test" which is an EU employment law provision - closed this loophole, giving workers the right to equal pay if they ultimately work for the same "source". It helped low-paid women take action against their employers over pay, but was one of hundreds of laws to be abolished by January 2024 under the EU Retained Law Act, which was passed in June. Without it, UK female workers would undoubtedly be disadvantaged.
This week the government has announced that the "single source test" will be retained as a concept for UK female workers and will be retained in UK employment law. This is good news.
What is the ‘Single Source Test’?
The ‘single source’ test allows workers to compare their roles to those of colleagues and if their terms and conditions of employment differ, even operating across a different location, for the purposes of an equal pay claim, they are employed on a ‘single source’ basis – there is a single body which is responsible for the inequality and is in a position to rectify it.
Vaishali Thakerar Head of Employment at Lawson-West Solicitors added:
“Some of the EU’s laws are good laws. And this is definitely one of those. Women should not face employment discrimination in the workplace and be treated unfairly and unequally from their colleagues. The UK’s employment legislation on this subject needs to be protective and robust.”
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