Mrs A Perkins v Marston (Holdings) Limited — 2023

This was a unanimous judgment at a Stage 1 equal value hearing. Mrs A Perkins brought an equal pay claim against Marston (Holdings) Limited. The tribunal found that the respondent had shown the difference between the claimant’s terms and the comparators’ terms was due to the material factors of market forces, competition and expectation, and recruitment and retention of Enforcement Agents.

The tribunal also found that reliance on those factors did not involve the respondent treating the claimant less favourably because of her sex than it treated the comparators. It further found that the claimant had not shown that, as a result of that factor, she and women doing work equal to hers were put at a particular disadvantage when compared with men doing work equal to hers.

Because of those findings, the sex equality clause in the claimant’s terms had no effect in relation to any difference between her terms and the comparators’ terms, and the claim was dismissed. The tribunal added that, had the respondent been required to show that reliance on the factors was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, it would have failed to discharge that burden.