14. Equal Pay Law

Abstract

This chapter examines the principle of equal pay for equal work enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 (EA). It first considers the stubbornness of the gender pay gap in the UK and the EU, as well as the justifications for intervention in the labour market via the auspices of equal pay laws. It goes on to discuss the legal machinery in the EA, which confers an entitlement on employees of one sex to the same remuneration as suitable employee comparators of the opposite sex. The focus then turns to the content of the ‘sex equality clause’—a term imposed into every employee’s contract of employment by virtue of section 66 of the EA. This is followed by a discussion of the material factor defence for employers in section 69 of the EA.