We pay men a productivity bonus, but women are not involved in production jobs. Surely this is OK?
This would depend on the reason why women are not involved in production jobs. If they are prevented from taking them by health and safety legislation, that would be acceptable; otherwise you will have to be able to demonstrate that the jobs are open to them (or if not, that there is some material reason why not), or you may be guilty of indirectly discriminating against women. You will also need to consider whether your production workers might be used as ‘comparators’ (see question three) in a claim for work of equal value. If the Tribunal accepts that a woman’s work is of equal value (see question five), you will have to make equal payments unless you can objectively justify the pay differential. Where there is a significant difference in the proportion of men and women in the higher paid group, it would not be enough to prove that the difference in pay rates is down to a genuine material factor (for instance, that production workers sometimes have to work nights). You would have to