Pickstone v. Freemans, 30 June 1988.
The applicants, warehouse operatives of the respondent employers, charged the employers with sex discrimination under Section 1(2)(c) of the Equal Pay Act 1970, because they were paid less than male warehouse checkers who they claimed performed work of "equal value."  The respondents, relying on language in Section 1(2)(c), argued that the applicants could not bring the suit because there was a male employee working in the same job as the applicants and earning the same salary as the applicants.  The House of Lords of the UK, upheld a lower court decision (see Annual Review of Population Law Vol. 14, 1987, Section 630) and rejected this argument.  In reaching this decision, it relied on the legislative history of the Equal Pay Act and concluded that the language of Section 1(2)(c) did not exclude situations where there was a man employed in the same job at the same wages as the applicants.
D019049:Developed Countries; D004467:Economics; D004651:Employment; D005060:Europe; D006280:Health Workforce; D007603:Jurisprudence; D011287:Prejudice; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012923:Social Class; D012940:Social Problems; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom
Court Decision; Developed Countries; Economic Factors; Europe; Human Resources; Labor Force--legal aspects; Northern Europe; Pay Equity--legal aspects; Sex Discrimination--legal aspects; Social Discrimination; Social Problems; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic Status; United Kingdom