"We thus accepted that attendance allowances were paid on a weekly basis, and that in order to qualify, the worker had to attend work but not necessarily remain at work throughout his normal shift times or for any particular number of hours. If he failed to attend, for example, through notified sickness he would lose his attendance allowance for that day namely 1/5 of the weekly allowances paid for the 5 day week, or for however many days he was absent for that reason, based on the same calculation. If, however, there was unauthorised absence for any one day in the week, the attendance allowance was lost for the whole week. Attendance allowance was also payable during holidays as if the applicant had properly attended work."
"Applying the "same subject matter" test we decided that the terms relating to the basic pay and to the bonus payments in the relevant comparators' contracts related to the same subject matter, but not the terms of the attendance allowance. Our reasons for that conclusion were as follows: …. (v) The basis of calculation of the attendance allowance was different. The basic pay and the bonus are based on the proposition that the comparator works throughout the shift and until the end of the shift. Both are calculated on the number of hours work attended. The attendance allowance is different. It only requires the worker to turn up for work, but not to attend throughout the shift. It was thus not calculated on an hourly rate. If the comparator failed to turn up, but gave an explanation in accordance with the respondent's rules, e.g, in time and in accordance with the sickness rules, he would lose his attendance allowance but only for that day, or for as long as he remained on the sick. If his absence was, however, unauthorised, he would lose his attendance allowance for the whole of the week. The fact that the comparators' holiday pay, for 4 or more weeks of the year, incorporated an attendance allowance element on the fiction that the comparator attended work during his holidays was not sufficient to displace the contention that the attendance allowance was not based upon the comparators' hourly rate of pay. It was based entirely upon the proposition that the comparator attended work daily but not throughout his shift. This conclusion is also relevant to the pro-rata issue."
"1(1)If the terms of a contract under which a woman is employed at an establishment in Great Britain do not include (directly or by reference to a collective agreement or otherwise) and equality clause they shall be deemed to include one. (2) An equality clause is a provision which relates to terms (whether concerned with pay or not) of a contract under which a woman is employed (the "woman's contract"), and has the effect that - … (b) where the woman is employed on work rated as equivalent with that of a man in the same employment - (i) if (apart from the equality clause) any term of the woman's contract determined by the rating of the work is or becomes less favourable to the woman than a term of a similar kind in the contract under which that man is employed, that term of the woman's contract shall be treated as so modified as not to be less favourable, and (ii) if (apart from the equality clause) at any time the woman's contract does not include a term corresponding to a term benefiting that man included in the contract under which he is employed and determined by the rating of the work, the woman's contract shall be treated as including such a term."
"On the other side of the coin, although the hours of work were nominally the same, the applicant's hours include a paid meal break of 30 minutes each day. The employer values this, and the benefit of her free meals at£18.12 per week. Further, but as a very small item, the applicant has an additional two days' paid holiday each year (worth 71p per week). Finally, the applicant enjoys better sickness benefits, to an extent which the employers values as£16.95 per week. Using these figures, the items in respect of which the applicant is treated more favourably than the men comparables show an aggregate weekly advantage of£35.78 to the applicant."
"I deal first with the issue between the parties arising on the United Kingdom legislation to which I have referred. The issue is whether in terms of theEqual Pay Act 1970 , as amended, the woman who can point to a term of her contract which is less favourable than a term of a similar kind in the man's contract is entitled to have that term made not less favourable irrespective of, whether she is as favourably treated as the man when the whole of her contract and the whole of his contract are considered, as the appellant submits, or whether, although she shows that a particular term of her contract is less favourable to her than a term of a similar kind in the man's contract, her claim can nevertheless be defeated if it is shown that the terms of her contract considered as a whole are not less favourable to her than the terms of the man's contract considered as a whole, as the respondents submit. No authority dealing with this question was referred to in the argument before your Lordships. There is no definition of the word "term" in the legislation. In that situation I am of opinion that the natural meaning of the word "term" in this context is a distinct provision or part of the contract which has sufficient content to make it possible to compare it from the point of view of the benefits it confers with similar provision or part in another contract. For example, Miss Hayward was employed on her accepting terms set out in a letter to her from the respondents which includes the following: "
"I do not consider that the words "a term of a similar kind" are capable of constituting a basis for building the construction of the word "term" favoured by the Court of Appeal. Again, in my opinion, the words mean precisely what they say. You look at the two contracts: you ask yourself the common sense question - is there in each contract a term of a similar kind, i.e. a term making a comparable provision for the same subject matter; if there is, then you compare the two, and if, on that comparison, the term of the woman's contract proves to be less favourable than the term of the man's contract, then the term in the woman's contract is to be treated as modified so as to make it not less favourable. I am, of course, much fortified in this approach in that it appears to me to be consistent with the only construction of sub-paragraph (ii), concerned with the case of the absent term, which I find to be acceptable. But, in addition, I feel that the Court of Appeal's attempt to introduce the element of overall comparison placed them firmly, or rather infirmly, upon a slippery slope; because, once they departed from the natural and ordinary meaning of the word "term," they in reality found it impossible to control the ambit of the comparison which they considered to be required. For almost any, indeed perhaps any, benefit will fall within "pay" in the very wide sense favoured by them, in which event it is difficult to segregate any sensible meaning of the word "term". "
"33 As regards the second of those questions, it is appropriate to refer to the judgments of30 June 1988 in the Commission v France .. and of17 October 1989 in Handels og Kontorfunktionaerernes Forbund i Danmark v Dansk Arbeidsgiverforening acting on behalf of Danfoss in which the Court emphasised the fundamental importance of transparency and, in particular, of the possibility of review by the national courts, in order to prevent and, if necessary, eliminate any discrimination based on sex. 34 With regards to the means of verifying compliance with the principle of equal pay, it must be stated that if the national courts were under an obligation to make an assessment and a comparison of all the various types of consideration granted, according to the circumstances, to men and women, judicial review would be difficult and the effectiveness of Article 119 would be diminished as a result. It follows that genuine transparency, permitting an effective review, is assured only if the principle of equal pay applies to each of the elements of remuneration granted to men or women."
"As the Court has held, the concept of pay, within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 119, comprises any other consideration, whether in cash or in kind, whether immediate or future, provided that the worker receives it, albeit indirectly, in respect of his employment from his employer"
"Provision for monetary payment for the performance of the contract by employees during normal working hours."
"26 There is unequal treatment wherever the overall pay of full-time employees is higher than that of part-time employees for the same number of hours worked on the basis of an employment relationship. 27 In the circumstances considered in these proceedings, part-time employees do receive the same overall pay as full-time employees for the same number of hours worked. 28. A part-time employee whose contractual working hours are 18 receives, if he works 19 hours, the same overall pay as a full-time employee who works 19 hours."
"(1) Where, at any time after the commencement of these Regulations, an [employment tribunal] makes an award under the relevant legislation - (a) it may, subject to the following provisions of these Regulations, include interest on the sums awarded:…."
"Where the rate of interest in paragraph (2) has varied during a period for which interest is to be calculated, the tribunal may, if it so desires, in the interests of simplicity, apply such median or average of those rates as seems to it appropriate."
"(2) In regulation 6, "mid-point date" means the day which falls half way through the period mentioned in paragraph (3) or, where the number of days in that period is even, the first day of the second half of the period. (3) The period referred to in paragraph (2) is the period beginning on the date, in the case of an award under the 1970 Act, of the contravention and, in other cases, of the act of discrimination complained of, and ending on the day of calculation."
"Subject to the following paragraphs of this regulation - … (b) in the case of all other sums of damages or compensation (other than any sum referred to in regulation 5) and all arrears of remuneration, interest shall be for the period beginning on the mid-point date and ending on the day of calculation."
"The period referred to in paragraph (2) is the period beginning on the date, in the case of an award under the 1970 Act, of the beginning of the contraventions and ending on the day of calculation"