Court of Appeal: more work required

Court of Appeal: more work required

BusinessNZ has expressed caution regarding today’s judgement in the Terranova* pay equity case.

Employment Manager Paul Mackay says the Appeal Court’s judgment will require significant work to be done to find a way of comparing women- and men-dominated occupations.

“This is not simply a case of deciding whether an individual has been discriminated against according to the Equal Pay Act.

“It is also about whether a whole industry group has been underpaid because they are predominantly women – a very complicated question – and the Appeal Court has not made a judgment on this either way.

“What Court of Appeal has done is make the judgment that the Equal Pay Act can be used to compare male and female pay rates. It has sent the case back to the Employment Court to state the principles to be followed in creating such comparisons.

“The Employment Court will now have to establish an objective method of comparison. Given there is currently no accepted method of determining pay relativities between women- and men-dominated industries, this will be a significant undertaking.

“It may be appropriate that the Government consider legislating to bring clarity into this complex and ambiguous area.”

Contact Paul Mackay 04 4966552 or Kathryn Asare 021 555 744

*Terranova Homes and Care Ltd v Service and Food Workers Union CA631/2013 [2014] NZCA 516

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28 Oct, 2014

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