The Equal Pay (Amendment) Regulations 1983

New form of equality clause

2.—(1) In subsection (2) of section 1 of the Equal Pay Act 1970(1) (equality clauses to be implied into contracts of employment), after paragraph (b) there shall be inserted the following paragraph:—

“(c) where a woman is employed on work which, not being work in relation to which paragraph (a) or (b) above applies, is, in terms of the demands made on her (for instance under such headings as effort, skill and decision), of equal value to that of a man in the same employment—

(i) if (apart from the equality clause) any term of the woman's contract is or becomes less favourable to the woman than a term of a similar kind in the contract under which that man is employed, that term of the woman's contract shall be treated as so modified as not to be less favourable, and

(ii) if (apart from the equality clause) at any time the woman's contract does not include a term corresponding to a term benefiting that man included in the contract under which he is employed, the woman's contract shall be treated as including such a term.”

(2) For subsection (3) of the said section 1 (defence of genuine material difference) there shall be substituted the following subsection:—

“(3) An equality clause shall not operate in relation to a variation between the woman's contract and the man's contract if the employer proves that the variation is genuinely due to a material factor which is not the difference of sex and that factor—

(a) in the case of an equality clause falling within subsection (2)(a) or (b) above, must be a material difference between the woman's case and the man's; and

(b) in the case of an equality clause falling within subsection (2)(c) above, may be such a material difference.”

(1)

section 1 was amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c.65), section 8 and Schedule 1, paragraph 1 and was applied by the Employment Protection Act 1975 (c.71), section 122(2), as amended by the Race Relations Act 1976 (c.74), Schedule 3, Paragraph 1(5).