ABSTRACT
Equal pay law is an element of anti-discrimination law. It is entirely based on statute and is a relatively recent development, the Equal Pay Act having only been passed in 1970. Before the Equal Pay Act 1970 came into force in 1975 there was nothing whatever in law to preclude an employer from paying women employees less than their male counterparts for doing the same work. The Equality Act 2010, which consolidates all pre-existing anti-discrimination legislation into a single statute, largely reproduces the Equal Pay Act as amended by the 1983 Regulations. The most important change is in the defence available to the employer. The concept of work rated equivalent operates when the employer has carried out a job evaluation scheme, and that scheme has rated the jobs done by the claimant and her comparator equivalent in terms of the demands on the job holder.
