On May 29th, 1970, the Equal Pay Act was introduced to “prevent discrimination, as regards terms and conditions of employment, between men and women.”
This landmark anniversary comes amidst growing concerns that the coronavirus pandemic, and the subsequent recession, could jeopardise recent progress made to create a fairer workplace.
Earlier this week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and University College London published research showing that women are more likely to have stopped doing paid work since the lockdown began, and that women in lockdown are spending more time on childcare than men in the same household.
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These findings, sadly unsurprising, reinforce worries that inequalities in wages between men and women are likely to increase both during and after this economic downturn.
They are not in themselves an indication of unequal pay, but reflect the issue of women being more likely than men to be in lower paid roles. This is fuelled by many factors – greater caring responsibilities may reduce opportunities for women currently in work, and women seeking to re-join the labour market may only be able to secure low paid roles, to name but a few.
It’s also important to understand the difference between equal pay and the relatively new concept of mandatory gender pay gap reporting, as both are often confused. Equal pay is a right, by which men and women in the same employment performing equal work must receive equal pay, as set out in the Equality Act 2010 (which supersedes the 1950 Equal Pay Act).
Whereas the gender pay gap is a measure, of the difference between the average earnings of men and women in their organisation, expressed as a percentage relative to men’s earnings (e.g. women earn 10% less than men per hour).
Since 2017, all organisations with 250 employees or more have been obligated to publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap. This reporting aims to expose, and thereby reduce, discrepancies by encouraging employers to close their gender pay gaps.
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But this year, the 海角视频 Government decided to suspend gender pay gap reporting deadlines, to allow businesses to concentrate on managing the effects of the coronavirus on their business.
That doesn’t mean that employers can’t demonstrate their commitment to a fairer workplace. Companies that had already assessed and collated their data prior and prepared their gender pay gap reports were encouraged by the CIPD to publish their figures nonetheless, to show that, despite the Covid-19 crisis, they take this issue seriously.
Those that had not should be prepared to turn their attention back to their reporting obligations once the crisis abates.
The gender pay gap figures will provide some indication of the impact of Covid-19 on gender equity in the workplace. If a larger number of women compared to men are placed on furlough leave as at the snapshot date, although they won’t be included in the pay gap data (as employers are only required to report on employees who receive full pay on the snapshot date), their absence from the reports is likely to impact pay gap figures.
Similarly, if women are requesting furlough for childcare reasons when they would ordinarily work part time, this means a large chunk of the part time workforce will not be included in the pay gap reports, potentially leading to an increased pay gap between men and women who work full time.
Gender pay gap reports aside, and with an eye on reducing the actual pay gap between men and women as a whole, employers should take the opportunity to take stock of current working arrangements and allow more flexibility, particularly home working and atypical hours, so that women are not prevented from achieving pay parity, simply because they have childcare responsibilities.
Employers have a duty to take all the reasonable steps to get their workforce back to work, not only safely, but also equally.
- Alex Christen is an employment lawyer at Cardiff and London based law firm, Capital Law.