ABSTRACT
Pay inequality is a key source of legislative vulnerability for UK employers. It is clear from recent research that the gender pay gap is persistent and operates ‘across equalities areas’ (Longhi and Platt 2008); that means, despite other characteristics, gender remains a central indicator of unequal pay. The latest official statistics indicate that on average there is a 15.5 per cent gap between men’s and women’s hourly earnings and a 15 per cent gap between their weekly earnings (ONS 2010). At the same time women are becoming more aware of their rights and trade unions are increasingly supporting large scale equal pay claims to employment tribunals (The Guardian 7 April 2009; The Times 28 July 2008). The cost of ignoring pay inequality may be reaching the point where it is too high to take risks. At the same time social justice arguments for greater equality are becoming more insistent (Noon 2007; Bellamy and Rake 2005).
