Councils renege on deal to pay poorest workers thousands in backpay

Thousands of low paid, mostly female local government workers, are missing out several thousands of pounds in back-pay local councils admit they owe them because local government bosses have failed to implement equal pay deals on time.

Dinner ladies and carers could be due a windfall bonus of thousands of pounds in some cases, but local authorities have not implemented the processes they signed up to and have not paid up.

Every local authority in Britain had ten years to implement a "single status" agreement which should have seen workers get equal pay for work of equal value.

The deadline for implementation is 31st March 2007 but Local Government Employers (LGE), the trade body for councils, estimate that 2/3 of authorities will miss it, depriving thousands of workers of thousands of pounds in cash that they owe them. But new research shows that 37 years after the Equal Pay Act and 10 years after their own agreement, and despite a legal obligation to meet Equal Pay, some councils have not even started the job evaluation process which can take up to three years.

And many of those which claim to have reached agreement are short changing workers, some times in collusion with their unions, to pay them only part of what they owe. Workers who have suffered discrimination in the past should receive six years back pay but the research revealed councils and unions were entering into settlements where workers were often pressed to accept only two years, with some workers missing out on a windfall payout of as much as £12,000.

Now specialist equal pay lawyers are stepping in bringing cases against both councils and their unions if necessary to ensure that workers get their dues.

Cases are already being brought through employment tribunals to establish workers' rights and legislation which comes into force on 6th April establishes a legal duty on local authorities meet equal pay requirements.

Conrad Murray of equalpaylawyer.co.uk says tens of thousands of workers may be affected nationwide: "We're bringing cases throughout the UK involving many thousands of workers with sometimes whole departments within councils involved" says Murray. "Councils have reneged on their responsibilities to right the wrongs they have inflicted on the poorest paid, usually female members of their workforce and Trade Unions have either sat on their hands or actively connived with employers to deprive these workers of the money they are due."

Many of the equal pay inequalities go back to the 1960s when "prices and incomes policies" attempted to fix wages. Unions and councils often reached dubious agreements to the benefit of mostly male manual workers. "Productivity" agreements where no targets are set and "attendance" allowances where people only need to show up to get them persist today on local authority wage bills and mean mostly male, manual workers are paid more than their female counterparts.

Murray claims that the Unions, despite "fine words" are still working to maintain the status quo and his belief is borne out by the findings of some tribunals:

In one case [Allan v GMB] an employment tribunal ruled "the unions collaborated with council in such a way that it applied practices which manipulated the members who had back pay claims into unwittingly sacrificing their rights to the benefit of other members and the council..."

According to Murray workers who believe their employer has not fully met their equal pay need to claim as soon as possible. "The clock is ticking and if their employer has not met, or has only partially met their obligations should issue a grievance immediately. Many authorities say they will achieve parity later in they year, but every day that passes after 31st March means workers are missing out. Regrettably we are already seeing local government employers waving checks for a couple hundreds of pounds at workers when the law recognises they are owed thousands. No worker should settle without taking advice."

For more information on equal pay see:

http://www.equalpaylawyer.co.uk

Losing out in the equal pay stakes:

• Affects mostly poorly paid women in non-office jobs
• Workers can claim six years' back pay of the amount they have been underpaid, although many councils are attempting to get them to settle for 2-3 years
• "Losers" who have been overpaid are often having their wages "ring fenced" until their comparator "catches up"
• Workers who left, are promoted and in some cases went on maternity leave may have their claim cut or opposed by their employer and should take immediate legal advice.
• The law affects all councils - even those who claim they were not party to the single status agreement.

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