Mr M O Duodu v Comfort Care Services UK Ltd (CCS) and 4 others — 2024

The tribunal recorded that the claimant's ordinary unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and/or notice pay, and holiday pay claims were dismissed on withdrawal, and that all claims pursued against Abdullah Khan were also dismissed on withdrawal. The remaining issue at the hearing was the claimant's equal pay claim under section 65 of the Equality Act 2010.

The equal pay claim concerned work at Lanterns, where the claimant, Ms Kah and Ms Hallem were support workers. In December 2021 the claimant's hourly rate increased from £9 to £9.50, while Ms Kah and Ms Hallem were increased to £10. The respondent's case was that the claimant was a Band C Support Worker and the comparators were Band B Support Workers, with Band B staff working the weekday evening shift and carrying additional responsibilities.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant and the comparators were in the same employment and that their pay rose to different levels, but held that the claimant had not shown that he was doing like work with Ms Kah and Ms Hallem. It found that there was substantial overlap in the support-worker duties, but that Band B staff had a wider range and level of responsibilities, including periodic assessments, documentation, stakeholder meetings and broader liaison with third parties, together with higher qualification and hands-on experience requirements. Those differences were found to be of practical importance, so the equal pay claim failed and was dismissed; the material factor defence did not need to be determined.