How long will the process take?

If you accept your offer, we will make arrangements for signature of a settlement agreement, which we will aim to take place in the next few months. Following signature, we will return the signed agreement to NLC. Following return of the agreement, the settlement money should be paid to us within 28 days of receipt, at which time we will deduct our fee and forward the final amount to you by cheque. We will endeavour to do so within 3 working days of receiving the sums from NLC.

Is there anything I need to do?

As settlement will be paid by cheque, if you have changed name or address please ensure that we have your updated details. In particular, you must ensure we are aware of your name as it appears on your bank account in order that the cheque can be made out correctly.

We will also need to make arrangements to obtain identification from you, including proof of address. We will discuss this in further correspondence should you accept your offer.

What period does my claim relate to?

We can claim for the period going back 5 years from the date the claim was raised in the tribunal – this is the longest period going back from the date of claim which an equal pay claim can cover in terms of the Equality Act 2010. Therefore we can only go back to around August 2012 at the earliest. This is so even if you had raised the issue with the Council or the Union previously.

If any inequality of pay caused by gender discrimination ended before 2012, then we will not be able to claim compensation. If the inequality ended on a date sometime between 2012 and 2017, then the claim can only cover the period from August 2012 until the discriminatory pay arrangement stopped.

What is the basis of the claims?

As noted previously, equal pay claims require to show more than that someone is paid more than you. It requires us to show that there is a difference in pay which is because of discrimination on the grounds of gender which is not explained by any other material factor. Claims require us to identify comparators, being jobs which require work of equal value but which are paid more because of sex discrimination.

We are raising what are known as second wave claims.

The claims against North Lanarkshire Council relate originally to bonuses which were historically paid to certain roles – roles which were largely held by men and in relation to which there was no basis for awarding bonuses. This means that females (and males) in roles of ‘equal value’ were underpaid as they did not get bonuses. These bonuses ended around 2006-2007.

There have been two ‘waves’ of equal pay claims against NLC. “First wave” claims relate to the period before 2006-7 when these bonuses were being paid. The claims being made now are too late to relate to the period before 2006-7 and claim the difference in pay for that time. Therefore, we cannot claim compensation in respect of first wave claims.

“Second wave” claims relate to the job evaluation which was carried out by NLC in 2006-7 and changed the grading and salary scales. These claims challenge the fairness of the job evaluation scheme. It is argued that the historic bonus arrangements were taken into account when NLC calculated grades and pay scales for the comparator roles, and this caused some jobs to receive a higher grade or rate of pay than others. It is this which the current claims relate to.

Please note that it is these issues which have led to mass equal pay claims settled over the last number of years, and not issues to do with being paid differently from colleagues, particularly of the same sex.

What is my claim worth?

We can claim the difference in pay which is caused by sex discrimination between your role and the role or roles identified as comparators: roles which we believe carry out work of equal value but which are paid more.

Why is my offer different from my friend/colleague?

As noted in our correspondence, it will be a term of the settlement agreements that offers made to you are confidential, therefore you should keep this information confidential and not discuss your offer with others.

However, if you become aware that your colleagues have offers which differ to yours, this is because they are calculated on an individual basis. This calculation uses the same formula, but depends on a number of factors, including rate of pay, job grade, hours worked, length of service and any periods in second jobs, acting up and so on. Therefore any differences in these factors will have an impact on the final offer figure.

Why do you say I should accept the settlement offer?

Our recommendation is that you accept the offer being made, for the following reasons:

The offer is calculated in accordance with the same formula as all previous offers made to Claimants in equal pay settlements by NLC since 2015, thus is on the same terms in comparison with others.
Second wave equal pay claims first arose out of the job evaluation scheme implemented in 2006/7. Due to the length of time which has passed since then, the claims are lower in value than those which were raised earlier and previously settled. There are various reasons why this is the case. The most valuable claims related mainly to the period from 2007 to 2010 when pay protection was in place. As tribunal rules mean we can only go back five years from the date the claim was raised, we can only go back to 2012 at the earliest. The passage of time means that some discrepancies and gaps in earnings have been rectified or narrowed by wage increases. For these reasons, we believe that the settlement offers are a fair value taking into account these factors and the risks of proceeding to tribunal and being unsuccessful (which is discussed below).
There have been no second wave claims brought against NLC which have been successful in the employment tribunal. All previous claims were settled before reaching

a final tribunal hearing. This means that the tribunal have never made a finding that there were periods of pay inequality for which NLC are liable, so we cannot use any previous claim as precedent. As a result, there exists a real risk in proceeding to tribunal that the claims could be unsuccessful and you would receive no compensation at all. This risk is accounted for in the offers. This risk is not insignificant for a number of reasons, including the following

If the claims are to proceed to a full hearing, they would require witnesses to give evidence about pay and grading and the inequality being alleged. This can be difficult as many individuals do not have full information regarding the issues which have led to these claims. Additionally, as those who brought claims in the past have usually signed settlement agreements, they are unable to share relevant information.
There is also the issue of passage of time. As noted above, as time has passed since the initial job evaluation in 2006, some pay gaps have narrowed through increments and pay increases. NLC carried out further job evaluation in 2015, which rectified some of the issues which led to the claims initially.
The length of time since the initial claims were raised also means relevant documents are lost or destroyed and relevant employees of the council who were involved with the job evaluation underlying the claims have moved on, which makes challenging NLC’s position more difficult.

If the tribunal process were to proceed, it could be lengthy. The type of claims which are brought often result in a number of stages of hearings. This would make it likely that it would still not be resolved for a number of years from now. As an illustration of this, you may have seen in the news recently that Glasgow City Council recently agreed to settle equal pay claims brought against it. These claims have lasted for a number of years. The tribunal hearings took place over a year and a half, and the appeal proceedings a further three years.