Equal Pay and Its Legal Position in the UK - Essay Example

Reward Place Introduction Within a democratic society, there is no more important right for a man and woman that the right to work fora livelihood (Berger 1971). Despite many impacts of economic and social rights, in terms of employment the trend can be illustrated by such objective as respectful attitude to all human beings of all race, nation and sex. These rights are being reinforced by such conventions as ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (2006) that in the modern days are covered with numerous evidence of discrimination in terms of labor rights provision. Thus, in reality, women face a lot of challenges within the labor relations. They are discriminated from certain employment, from private employers, labor unions and employment agencies within hiring and job placement processes and promotional opportunities. They are even paid lower wages. For that purpose examination of the given question should be done. In the following report the term equal pay and its legal position in UK law will be examined. Strategic and practical steps in ensuring pay equality will be outlined with the reference to HRM strategy and policy. Methods and techniques of pay and reward will be evaluated. Equal pay and its legal position in UK Equity in pay for certain work is essential to all people and is associated with the satisfaction of the level of pay, according to Bratton and Gold (2012). However, due to the current economic considerations that perceive pay to be dictated by the forces of the supply and demand of labor, the term of equity in pay is in conflict. For such peculiar country as UK, equal pay legislation exists for more than forty years, while the legal rules are developed and amended in 2010 with the implementation of the Equality Act. Moreover, the Labor Organization’s Convention is aimed to provide all employees with the principle of equal pay and value all work made by men and women equally. However, despite such rules, there are still many problems identified with equal pay in the UK, and most notably the issues are observed with gender pay gap. According to Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (2015), equal pay refers to employers’ provision of equal treatment of men and women employees and ensuring of good working conditions within their employment contract. Whether it is a work that one likes or that, which one rates as equivalent under a job evaluation study, a work should have equal value in terms of human efforts and skill. Equal Pay Portal (2015) states, that it is the main principle for employers to provide an equal pay for doing equal work for women and men under the European Union law. British domestic law at the same time should comply with the European Union law. There is a consideration (Bratton & Gold, 2012), however, that gender discrimination that refers pay equity and practices is strongly entrenched. This problem is caused partially by the manifestation of prejudicial patterns of such behavior in society generally. The evidence to it may be seen in the average women’s pay that between 1999 and 2002 improved marginally from 70,5 to 72 cents only while the number of working women has increased from 78 to 80,2 percent. Data provided displays the gender-pay dynamics are the complex unit, which collects societal and organizational values. In the concrete workplace, the masculine work in valued more than the similar executed by woman. In the current context, according to International Labor Organization and Guardian article, in twenty years the difference in pay between men and women has changed barely (Topping, 2015). It is also estimated that the income of working full time women across the world will lag if the equity pay gap continues to decrease at slow rate. Source: Topping (2015) In addition, for more than half a century, women are still treated unfair in terms of earning, seventy-seven percent of which is paid to men. In the last twenty years that indicator has improved by three percentage points (Women and the Future of Work, 2014). It is dictated mostly by such condition as bearing and growing up children which then causes a motherhood pay gap. Hopkins (2008) states, that those women with children are more likely to earn less when they come back to work than those without children. There is, however, a positive pattern in the report of International Labor Organization which states that the government policies also had a significant effect on question of equal pay to women (Hopkins, 2008). Strategic and practical steps in providing pay equity ACAS (2015) recommends that the starting point to the fair treatment of equality toward pay is the value of equality and fairness that should be put into practice. Thus, companies should show their staff, potential recruits and customers that it is serious about fairness and collaborates with everyone regardless race and sex. In public sector and within large organizations equality policies should be taken into account when awarding contracts. However, for such policy to be effective, it should have support within the organization and be the integral part of corporate strategy. All managers and at all levels should show their commitment toward policy of adhering equality in pay. A particular policy should relate to an organization’s size and make-up and the nature of a business. Certain areas of discrimination should be identified. The Equality Act (2010) provides information on gender pay gap. Under such document, the regulations require employers to inform employees about the pay. While there is a gender gap in pay, the government should take strict actions as to the reduction of such issues. Forty-five years since the Equal Pay Act still reveal gender gap in ten percent of full-time work and nineteen percent of all employment. For that purpose, there is a need to renew effort to tackle some of the underlying causes of pay inequality. It is however not a simple task as equal pay law does not have base on collective responsibility, as if there is a unfair pay, one should cope with such an issue by oneself (Thornberry, 2015). In addition, the government thinks over overhauling the tribunals in order to provide them with wider powers. In case of any issues reveal, the compensation should be awarded to those who acted legally. For the better establishment of policies of equal pay, there is a need to require employers to carry out an equal pay audit. By means of negotiation, it is possible to drive change through workforce. Under the equal pay provision of the Equality Act 2010 all people in the same employment should receive equal pay. That means that one should compare between staff doing such a job as like work, work related as equivalent and work as equal value (Ensuring fairness, closing the pay gap, 2015). In that case, pay gaps for like work will be undertaken with other employees. The work related as equivalent perceives men and women equivalent for the doing work not necessarily the same. Equal values in terms of the demands of the work are skills, knowledge, mental and physical effort and responsibilities that are required. There is also a need to not undervalue the meaning of equal value that involves a weighing and balancing between the features of different work. Here the human resources offices can answer the question of equal pay. Human Resources Management serves as a tool for organizations and businesses to realize the benefits of corporate rules and policies in order to comply with the law and societal needs. However, as human resources specialists, supervisors are not aware of biases that can cause inappropriate treatment of employees. In cases when women work in nontraditional roles but supervisor’s views are stereotypical, there can emerge the situation of gender inequality. Moreover, such negative situation refers not equal pay especially within the male-dominated field. Then females are paid less for the same work. The important issue here is that the pattern is hardens. The explanation of this lies in lower expectations for women especially if supervisor is a man. In the era of diversification of workforce, less attention is given to the gender equality. However, the damage done by neglecting explanation and training is significant. To avoid sex discrimination, supervisors should communicate with the employees more giving them feedback and listen to attentively about the issues regarding sex discrimination (McPhie, 2006). The European Union goes beyond legislation seeking the opportunities to change attitudes to the gender roles (Tackling the gender pay gap in the European Union, 2013). Thus, the European Commission’s Communication was directed on offering a series of actions that deal with the gender pay gap. The initiative included better use of existing legislation, fighting over gender pay gap and promotion of equal pay among employers. The other important fluctuation in the UK society was the Strategy for equality between women and men that helped to close the gender pay gap through legislative and non-legislative measures set in such areas as economy, labor market, equality in senior positions, tackling gender violence and others. According to the World Economic Forum (Dearden, 2014), UK fells out of the top most gender-equal countries in the world, hitting the low in twenty-six in the Global Gender Gap Report. The Independent article (Dearden, 2014) reports that an average wages for women fell by two thousand pounds in comparison to the previous year where such indicator was showing fifteen thousand pounds. There are now considerations that suggest that factors such as women’s career path and career breaks are the main predisposition for women to receive less than men. For that purpose the government should take rapid actions to stop future generations of women who possibly may suffer from pay penalty. References Dearden, L. 2014. Equal Pay Day: Where does the UK stand in global equality rankings? The Independent, [online] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/equal-pay-day-where-does-the-uk-stand-in-global-equality-rankings-9838439.html [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Equal pay, 2015. Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, [online] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1811 [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Berger, C. 1971. Equal Pay, Equal Employment Opportunity and Equal Enforcement of the Law for Women, Val. U. L, V.5, N.2 [online] Available at: http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2089&context=vulr [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Bratton, J. and Gold, J. 2012. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan Hopkins, K. 2008. UK gender pay gap widens, Guardian, [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/nov/14/gender-pay [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. McPhie, N. 2006. Designing an effective pay for performance compensation system, [online] Available at: http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=224104&version=224323&application=ACROBAT [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Tackling the gender pay gap in the European Union, 2013. Publications Office of the European Union, [pdf] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/gender_pay_gap/gpg_brochure_2013_final_en.pdf [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Tackling discrimination and promoting equality, 2015. Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, [pdf] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/j/2/B16_1.pdf [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. The Equality Act, 2010. Legislation.gov. [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/78[Accessed on May 1, 2015]. The Law, 2015. Equal Pay Portal, [online] Available at: http://www.equalpayportal.co.uk/the-law/ [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 2006. International Organization of Employers, [online] Available at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/pos_2006_ilodeclaration.pdf [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Topping, A. 2015. Gender pay gap will not close for 70 years at current rate, says UN, Guardian, [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/mar/05/gender-pay-gap-remain-70-years-un [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Women and the Future of Work, 2014. Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch, Women and the Future of Work Beijing + 20 and Beyond, [pdf] Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/briefingnote/wcms_348087.pdf [Accessed on May 1, 2015]. Read More