North Lanarkshire Update

The recent tribunal hearing involving North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) seems to have made some real progress in resolving the outstanding 'First Wave' equal pay claims of Sheltered Housing Wardens, Clerical Assistants and Classroom Assistants.

As regular readers know, the Council has been arguing for many months that these female dominated jobs are not of 'equal value' to the earnings enjoyed by traditional male jobs (e.g. refuse workers and gardeners) which have been chosen as 'comparators'.

But the Council seems to be backing away from that position and while a further Employment Tribunal hearing has been set for 27 April 2016 the Council now appears willing to negotiate a settlement on behalf of these claimants which would be a great victory for common sense.

Discussions will continue over the next few weeks and with a bit of luck the tribunal hearing  scheduled for April will not be necessary, although as the old saying goes 'until everything is agreed, nothing is agreed'.

So there's still a real possibility that these outstanding cases will end up back in front of an Employment Judge for an adjudicated decision.

In other words, fingers crossed and watch this space for more news.