Equality body looks into council’s sex bias on pay

The GMB general union has welcomed the decision of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in Scotland to investigate Glasgow City Council’s pay and grading system for pupil support assistants.

The commission, which is using its investigatory powers for the first time, says it suspects that the job evaluation and pay system used by the council since April 2006 meets neither legal requirements nor takes into account EHRC guidance on keeping job evaluation schemes free of sex bias.

The EHRC said it was “particularly concerned” that the council’s job evaluation process might be discriminatory, “because it does not appear to measure equally the significant features of both female and male jobs and therefore may continue to undervalue the type of work traditionally done by women.”

Commissioner Morag Alexander said the EHRC’s action emphasised “the importance of addressing the undervaluing of women’s work through non-discriminatory pay and job evaluation systems.” And she said employers who do not adhere to fair and transparent reward systems risk costly legal action over equal pay.

Alex McLuckie, GMB senior officer for public services in Scotland, said: “We told our members at the time that we thought it was discriminatory.” The union has been pursuing over 700 equal pay claims for women members against the council.