Richard Grogan

In June, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan introduced the general scheme for the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill.

There is an extremely interesting element in Head 2 being matter (7) namely that Regulations may be made under the section to require the publication of information by reference to job classifications.

This is extremely important.

Let us give an example of a company. The company has 20 managers. 15 are of one gender and 5 of another gender. They are all paid the same. The balance of the workforce is split 50/50 on gender and each gender receives in that category the same rate of pay and benefits.

Under the UK legislation (or if the Regulation simply provided that information was given as regards the difference in rates of pay on a simple calculation) then because there are more persons of a particular gender in the senior management positions, this will result in a report that shows that in that company there is a pay gap between men and women. In reality, there may be a gap as regards the number of a particular gender at senior management level but there will be no pay gap between anybody working in the company.

Under the UK legislation, imagine you had a company that had, for example, 20 senior managers, of whom 15 were male and 5 were female. Let us assume that there is a 20 per cent pay gap, whereby the female workers receive less to comparable male managers. The balance of the workforce amounting to let us say 250 individuals which is 100 per cent male, who are all paid twice the national minimum wage. In this case, it is likely that if you take the wages of all the men and divide it by the number of men in the organisation and then compare that with the women in the organisation, it will probably appear that there is a pay gap but one where women are actually paid more than men. The opposite is exactly the position. Namely that, at a senior level, the women working in the company would be receiving 20 per cent less.

This is an issue which we have raised with the Departments and were delighted to see that this provision in the Head 2 of the Bill in paragraph 7 is in place. This would allow reporting to be done on the basis of job classifications.

In the examples set out above in the first case, it would show, if the Regulations came in on that basis, that men and women within the organisation at the various levels receive the same rate of pay. In the second case, it would indicate that women at senior levels were receiving 20 per cent less than male counterparts.

The Bill as proposed would mean that there would be tangible, real, relevant and informative information produced. Companies in such circumstances would be more inclined to ensure that matters were rectified so as to avoid having the report a pay gap on the basis of gender.

We are very pleased that we have put forward this proposal. We are extremely pleased that it has been accepted and that we hope that this legislation will be passed to provide for comparisons on the basis of similar jobs being compared with similar jobs as to what men and women in particular roles are paid.

• Richard Grogan is the principal solicitor at Richard Grogan & Associates Solicitors. You can subscribe to the firm’s monthly newsletter at grogansolicitors.ie.