Episode 36: Ethnicity pay gap reporting; CEO vs worker pay inequality; British Army race discrimination claim & developments in law around industrial action

The Lawdown: Employment Law Podcast Series from CM Murray LLP

In our latest episode of The Lawdown, Partners Beth Hale and Sarah Chilton, Senior Associate Wonu Sanda and Associate Kia Aoki discuss the following:

1. Recently published statistics reveal that women of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage are earning on average almost a third less an hour than white British men in the UK. In light of this, we discuss the importance of ethnicity pay gap reporting and whether it should be made mandatory, and the difficulties and limitations that may arise in producing this data.
   
2. The disparity between CEO and worker pay is again making the headlines, following a UK thinktank’s finding that by 1pm on the third working day of the year, a FTSE 100 chief executive will have earned more on an hourly basis than a UK worker’s annual salary. We discuss the issues relating to this disparity, including against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis, whether workers should have a say in dictating CEO salaries, and possible alternatives where an employer cannot afford to raise the salaries of its employees.
   
3. Dwight Pile-Gray, a Rastafarian soldier in the British Army, won claims of race discrimination, racial harassment and victimisation in the employment tribunal following an incident where a white colleague didn’t believe he was a soldier based on his appearance. We discuss the Army’s handling of the incident, and what employers can do to ensure incidents like this are properly and fairly investigated.
   
4. Strikes are still dominating the headlines in 2024. We discuss the legal developments relating to industrial action, including the use of agency workers during strikes and the controversy around the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, and the implications of these developments for employers.