2,000 female council workers set for payout

Jul 1 2009 by David Black, The Journal

A ruling by the Employment Tribunal earlier this year, on which grades of female workers could make equal pay claims, added around £10m to the potential bill, which was estimated a year ago to be up to £45m.

The issue of compensating under-paid female workers has been rumbling on since 1997, when the single status agreement was drawn up between the council employers and unions representing women employees.

The agreement was meant to be implemented by March 2007, but an estimated two-thirds of councils failed to meet the deadline, leading to massive payback liabilities with female workers able to claim for six years in back pay.

Yesterday neither senior county councillors or officials of the GMB and Unison would comment publicly on the agreement, which was struck just before the Employment Tribunal was due to sit earlier this month.

A joint statement issued by the county council said: “The parties are pleased to announce the equal pay litigation on behalf of female claimants against the council, supported by GMB and Unison, has been settled in principle.

“The details are confidential, but the agreement represents a fair and balanced settlement for both parties and a satisfactory outcome for the claimants and the taxpayer. The parties believe this provides a solid basis for concluding the single status negotiations and building for the future of the new unitary authority.”