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Solution
Email 4: 2.2 Equal Pay and Genger Reporting
Under the Equality Act 2010, specific legal requirements govern equal pay and gender pay gap reporting. Any decisions related to pay or grading must align with these provisions to ensure compliance and fairness.
Equal Pay
Equality Act 2010 ensures that employees of one sex doing equal or equivalent work to those of the other sex should be paid equal wages unless there exist business related reasons that would warrant otherwise. ”Equal work” means work, work rated as equivalent or work of the same value in regard to the skills, effort and demands involved (ACAS, 2024).
The nurse manager’s proposal to upgrade two male HCAs raises potential concerns, given that 80% of HCAs in the Trust are women. Lacking concrete and respectable reasons, such action would lead to indirect discrimination because one group (men) is favored and underrepresented in the given position.
A relevant case, Brennan v. Sunderland City Council (2012), illustrates the importance of ensuring pay differences are evidence-based (Employment Cases Update, 2023). In this case, workers especially women fought for equal wages after proving by their effort that they work for similar tasks as men earning higher wages. This explains why there is a provision in the law that out rightly prohibits discrimination in the payment of workers without sound reasons to do so.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
According to the Equality Act, any organisation that has more than 250 employees must report on the gender pay gap on an annual basis. Proposing the re- advertisement of only male HCAs could further present the Trust and widen the gender pay to the public and regulatory bodies thus incurring further costs.
Recommendation
I recommend rejecting the upgrade as proposed unless the nurse manager can provide robust evidence that the decision is based on non-discriminatory factors. For instance, if the two HCAs…
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