North Lanarkshire Update

A regular reader has been in touch to highlight an important point about the GMB's decision to restrict its members equal pay claims in North Lanarkshire Council to only 3 years.

Now as far as I know this decision was taken by GMB headquarters,allegedly because of some national union policy, so members in North Lanarkshire were not consulted about the effect this would have on their equal pay claims.

In fact, until very recently GMB members in North Lanarkshire had no idea that their claims had been restricted to only 3 years in the first place. 

But if we assume that the GMB's restricted claims relate to a period between January 2007 - January 2010, then anyone who left the Council's employment or retired after January 2010 is technically 'out of time' to register a new equal pay claim.  

Because the Employment Tribunal lay down time limits which require any new claims to be registered within 6 months of someone leaving their employment.

For example, if a GMB member left the Council's employment or retired after January 2010, then they will no longer be able to amend an existing 3-year claim - or register a new claim because their employment with NLC ended more that six months ago.

So any GMB member in this situation could have lost up to 5 years worth of their equal pay claim, yet through no fault of their own.

All I can say is that if I found myself in this position, I'd be seeking independent advice about the possibility of pursuing the GMB for negligence over the union's handling of my claim.