Ms HE Biggs v A Bilborough & Company Ltd and 3 others — 2020

The claimant, a solicitor who joined the respondent in 2004 and was promoted to Associate Director in 2010, succeeded in her equal pay claim against the first respondent. The tribunal accepted that she and KH were doing like work, and it rejected the respondent's shifting explanations for the pay gap. Reasons advanced at different times included age, length of service, time spent in the office, and the cost of the claimant's MBA, but the tribunal held that none of these amounted to a genuine material factor defence. It found that the sex equality clause applied from the promotion in 2010 until the claimant's salary was equalised in October 2015. The wrongful dismissal complaint was withdrawn, and the claims against the 4th and 6th respondents were also withdrawn.

The tribunal upheld the claimant's sex discrimination case in part. It found that Mr Roberts used sex-related language and treated the claimant differently in a number of managerial contexts, including telling her she was 'pushy', suggesting she should 'use your charms', discouraging her from seeking a subcommittee role, advising her against a formal flexible-working application, and handling her appraisal and objectives in a discriminatory way. It also found harassment in relation to some of the same conduct, including the appraisal comments about her needing to 'carry people with her' and the way the draft article error was used against her. Some allegations did not succeed, including the Benita allocation and the later dispute about the transfer of Greek fleet work.