SLC Update (22/07/15)

A number of readers from South Lanarkshire Council have been in touch to ask about settlement offers of their equal pay claims which have been received via their trade unions.

Now regular readers will recall that, for many years, the trade unions actively discouraged their members from registering equal pay claims against South Lanarkshire Council - which helps to explain why so many became clients of Action 4 Equality Scotland.

In effect the unions stood shoulder to shoulder with this Labour-run council instead of standing up for the lowest paid groups within the workforce: carers, cleaners, classroom assistants, catering and clerical workers - all predominantly female jobs of course.

Now things changed only when it became pretty obvious that A4ES was winning its long fight against South Lanarkshire which was helped when the Council lost a landmark FOI case (started by me) that went all the way to the UK Supreme Court, and left SLC with egg all over its face.

So at the 11th hour and 59 minutes, so to speak, the trade unions in South Lanarkshire finally started to register a few equal pay claims, relatively speaking, albeit at the 'coo's tail' and miles behind A4ES.

Union members in SLC are now telling me that their settlement offers are derisory, much poorer apparently than those won by A4ES, and want to know if they can refuse a proposed settlement if their offer does not seem reasonable. 

I haven't seen the details of anyone's offer as yet, so it's difficult to say for sure, but what I would do in their shoes is to adopt the same approach as GMB members in North Lanarkshire - by asking for a detailed and proper explanation as to how any settlement offer has been calculated.

For example, what period does it cover?

Exactly how is the settlement figure calculated? - What male comparators are involved? - What rate of interest is being used? - Is there any discount applied and if so, how much? - etc etc.

The point is that the trade unions are under an obligation to explain these issues properly and union members are entitled to sensible answers - in writing. 

The same applies to the trade unions' legal advisers who have a higher professional duty under the code of conduct for solicitors in Scotland to give their clients honest and clear advice.

The following post from the blog site may help union members in South Lanarkshire get to the bottom of what's going on, but if you ask me the unions should be explaining the make-up of these offers to their members and providing them with clear advice on whether or not to accept.

North Lanarkshire Update (19/07/15)

4 Sum of Discount

My reading of this figure is that the GMB has been discussing with North Lanarkshire Council a 45% discount (saving to the Council) for settling their members equal pay claims.

Now quite why the GMB didn't reject this proposal out of hand is beyond me and I'm amazed that the GMB had the gall to put such an insulting figure to its members.

A 'discount' might make sense if there are still arguable issues in dispute or if the employer is seeking a discount for early settlement, but North Lanarkshire has been dragging its feet on these cases for years.

So why would people give up nearly half their claim - this makes no sense whatsoever.  

I am also told by a reliable source inside the Council that the discount figure being suggested for GMB members is much higher that the one used for all the other claimants from Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. confirmation of the size of the discount, as a percentage of the total offer 
2. an explanation as to why the GMB and/or the Council believes this to be a reasonable offer
3. confirmation of whether the percentage discount is much higher than that used by other claimants in the equal pay dispute with North Lanarkshire Council

All in all this is even more evidence of a completely lousy offer which is 'diddling' the GMB members in North Lanarkshire twice over.

First of all the GMB stupidly restricts their claims to only 3 years instead of 8 - then the  Council adds insult to injury by suggesting that GMB members give up almost half of their claims by way of an impossible-to-justify discount.

I'm tempted to say that 'you couldn't make it up', but clearly someone has and it's pretty obvious that between them the GMB and North Lanarkshire Council have made a real hash of things.

North Lanarkshire Update (17/07/15)

3 Sum of Interest

Now this is a peculiar figure because the papers I have seen do not explain what period this sum of interest actually covers.

Nor do the papers explain the percentage rate of interest to compensate people for the fact that they should have been paid this money years ago. 

I am also told by a reliable source within North Lanarkshire Council that the figure used in respect of GMB claimants is much less than the one used for all the other claimants from Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. confirmation of the period over which interest is being paid
2. confirmation of the percentage rate of interest used to calculate the Sum of Interest
3. confirmation of whether the percentage rate of interest is lower than that used by other claimants in the equal pay dispute with North Lanarkshire Council

I suspect that the answers to these questions will show that the relevant figures are based on only a three-year claim when, for example, the claims of Action 4 Equality Scotland clients covered the full eight-year period between January 2007 and March 2015.

In other words it looks as if GMB in North Lanarkshire members are being offered only a small fraction of the 'true' value of their claims.

NLC Update (13/07/15)

2 Sum of Balance after HMRC

Nowhere in the papers I have seen is this figure explained and nor is there any reference to the fact that not everyone pays tax and/or National Insurance contributions?

Another issue which is not referred to or explained is that of pension entitlement which is important because any employee who is near retirement age or who may be retiring on the grounds of ill-health, could benefit hugely from any settlement being linked to their pension contributions. 

Now the Council may not like this because employer's pension contributions are normally twice the amount of and employee's pension contributions and there are tax implications as well.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. a detailed explanation as to how this figure is calculated
2. the figure to be recalculated to take pension contributions into account
3. confirmation that any 'final' figure is personalised and is not making general assumptions about tax and National Insurance  

Otherwise union members run the risk of taking a potentially life-changing decisions on the basis of inadequate information.

NLC Update (12/07/15)

1 Sum of Principle Amount

Now this appears to be the gross value of the settlement offer from North Lanarkshire Council, but nowhere does the GMB explain how this figure is calculated.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. a detailed breakdown of the figure
2. an explanation of how the figure is calculated
3. confirmation of the period covered by the settlement offer
4. confirmation of the male comparators used to determine the difference in pay between male and female council jobs 

Because only then will GMB members be in a position to evaluate this offer, or any future offers, properly although to be honest the union and its advisers ought to be doing this for local GMB members - by giving them clear advice on whether to accept or reject the proposed settlement.

As things stand GMB members seem to be getting offered a settlement which is worth only a fraction, perhaps a small fraction, of the 'true' value of their equal pay claims against North Lanarkshire Council.