Women entitled to same level on unsocial hours payments as men

An Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that women working for St Helen’s and Knowsley NHS Trust are entitled to the same level of unsocial hours payments as men.

The decision in the case of Brownbill v St Helens and Knowsley could pave the way for women at this trust and at other hospitals to challenge pay discrimination on the same grounds, it has been predicted.

The women, working as healthcare assistants, domestic supervisors, and on reception, were paid time and one-third for working on a Saturday, and time and two-thirds for working on Sundays and bank holidays. But the men were paid at a higher rate of time and a half for Saturdays and double time for Sundays and bank holidays.

The trust claimed that unsocial hours payments were part of their staffs’ normal working week, and that payments for these hours could not be separated out from basic pay. However, an Employment Appeal Tribunal has backed a claim that unsocial hours payments are a separate term of the employment contract, and can be directly compared.

Dave Prentis, General Secretary of Unison, which represented the women, said: “It is more than 40 years since the Equal Pay Act, and long overdue for employers to face up to their responsibilities to pay men and women equally. The decision made in this case clarifies that unsocial hours’ payments must also be 100% fair and equal.”