Mrs S Aston & others v Derby City Council — 2021

The preliminary hearing concerned jurisdictional issues in a multiple equal pay claim. For 19 claimants, the issue was whether COT3 settlements signed in 2007/2008 barred later equal pay claims about their teaching assistant roles. The tribunal found that all relevant claimants had signed COT3 agreements, and that the agreements had been properly made with ACAS assistance.

Construing the agreements in context, the tribunal found that they were confined to the specified manual posts, such as midday supervisor, club helper, taxi escort or similar roles, for which settlement payments were made. Teaching assistant roles were separate posts governed by different terms and were not treated as eligible posts in the settlement process. The tribunal found that clear wording would have been needed to compromise future or separate teaching assistant claims, and that such wording was absent.

For Lisa King and Karen Leszczyszak, the respondent argued that their inclusion on the same claim form was irregular because their work was not the same as the lead claimant's teaching assistant role. The tribunal found that their roles were properly described as teaching assistant roles and that the claims were not irregular. It also stated that, even if there had been an irregularity, it would have waived it under rule 6. The claims were therefore allowed to continue; the merits were not decided.