Equal Pay Act 1970—I
| Published date | 01 May 1971 |
| Date | 01 May 1971 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1971.tb02330.x |
STATUTES
EQUAL
PAY
ACT
1970-1
ON
occasions
a
new statute attracts attention, in legal circles, out
of
all proportion
to
its importance
;
on other occasions the passage
of an Act of Parliament with greater implications receives less com-
ment from lawyers than
it
deserves. The Equal Pay Act
1970
appears to fall into this second category: possibly because
it
does
not come into force until December
29,
197L3
The intention of the Act is
to
prevent discrimination between
the sexes;
so
that for men and women employed on like work,* or
on work rated
as
equi~alent,~
the
terms and condi'tions of employ-
ment of one sex are no longer
to
be less favourable than those
of
the other. The Act imports a term, either expressly6
or
by implica-
tion,' into every woman's contract of employment, that she shall
be given equal treatment with men employed by her employer, or
an
associated employer who obsesves common terms
and
conditions
of
employment, either generally
or
for employees of the relevant
classes.
It
is confusing that an Act, which by its title seems confined to
the question of equality of payment, should, in
its
first section,
purport
to
secure equal terms and conditions of employment.
The
aim, however, appears to be to make
it
an unfair discrimination
for
an employer
to
give two workers of different sexes the same
pay, for the same kind and amount of work, while discriminating
between them in respect of other terms and conditions of their
contraots.8
Where a collective agreement
is
in force with provisions applying
specifically to men only,
or
to women only,Q amendments may be
made to the agreemenit
to
secure the extension of these provisions
to
both sexes engaged in like work,
or
to
secure that the terms and
conditions of workers, of that category, in the excluded sex, are
not in any respeot less favourable ahan those
of
all persons of the
sex
to
whom the agreement originally applied.'O
To
secure the
1
The Contracts
of
Employment Act
1963
(c.
49)
might retrospectively be ranked
in this category.
2
c.
41.
8
13.
9
(l),
though the Secretary
of
State is empowered
to
make an order to come
into operation on December
31,
1973,
to facilitate the
full
implementation
of
the
Act in
1975
(8.
9
(2)).
4
8.
1
(1)
(a).
5
n.
1
(1)
(b).
6 8.
1
(21.
7
s.
1
(3).
8
e.g.,
by providing only one yith Inncheon vouchers or free protective clothing.
9
8.
3
(4)
(a).
10
8.
3
(4).
308
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