New legislation affecting the way claims under the Equal Pay Act are carried out could catch employers on the hop, according to a legal employment specialist.

As of April 2003, employees will be able to present their employer with a questionnaire to establish whether they are able to make a claim under the Equal Pay Act. There will be a legal requirement for employers to respond within 8 weeks of receiving the questionnaire, and the employee will be entitled to ask for information regarding the salary and other personal information about an employee who is either doing or has done the same job to support their case.

Nichola Evans of law firm Rowe Cohen cites evidence that fewer than one in five companies have undertaken an Equal Pay audit, which the government is likely to make compulsory in the public sector in future, as a warning that companies are likely to be ill-prepared for this kind of challenge, which has been brought in by the government in an attempt to speed up the process involved in dealing with equal pay disputes. It is estimated that the introduction of the questionnaire procedure will result in a 10% reduction in applications, ie. a reduction of 240 applications per year. Companies may in some cases be able to avoid certain requests for information, but Evans warns it makes sense for them to look at pay structures now in order to avoid future disputes as the legislation around equal pay is tightened up: “If you’re one of the 80% of employers who’ve chosen to ignore it, be warned. All the indications are that this is about to change.”

The Equal Pay questionnaire has been brought in as part of the Employment Act 2002, which also makes provision for changes to maternity and paternity rights and flexible working arrangements. The Equal Opportunities Commission has put together an Equal Pay review kit which can be downloaded from their website.