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Still breaking the glass ceiling...

(*4) #MeTooPay

On 14 January, 2022, an Employment Tribunal delivered their remedy decision on Macken v BNP Paribas, that the Respondent undertake an equal pay audit. This landmark case is the first tribunal-ordered equal pay audit.

Stacey Macken, prime brokerage product manager, won her claim against the investment bank BNP Paribas, for a breach of the equal pay and the sexual discrimination provisions (*1) under Regulation 2 of the Equality Act 2010 and Equal Pay Audit Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2559).

Macken was awarded £2 million.

The employment tribunal (*2) identified a 28 percent gap in the median hourly pay rate, a basic salary gap of 25% and a bonus gap of up to 53.3 per cent. The male comparator, who was on the same performance grade as Stacey Macken "received double the bonus that was awarded to the claimant" (paragraph 445 of judgment document). The tribunal ordered that the Respondent undertake an Equal Pay audit, under regulation 2 of the Equal Pay Audit Regulations (2014). It is to include gender pay information relating to all monetary forms of remuneration, including base pay, pension, allowances and discretionary bonus payments.

(5) Stacey Macken

Farore Law, a firm specialising in employment discrimination and equal pay, comments on the implications of the case (*3) noting that it may serve to set a precedent for further future audits to be ordered in similar cases, or to encourage employers to take voluntary audits, so as to redress the pay structures of organisations and avoid sex discrimination.

An off-shoot of the case, a group of over 100 of the UK's best businesswomen have set up a #MeTooPay campaign. It includes Dame Moya Green, the Royal Mail boss until 2018, who has publicly supported Stacey Macken's case.

The site https://genderpaygap.app/ states women's median hourly pay is less than men's at 77% of UK companies. The algorithmic 'Bot' responds to social media posts, of companies on the government Gender Pay Gap service. It picks up mentions of gender equality and International Women's Day phrases, and (*6) Dame Moya Greene, Dame Minouche Shafik and Emma Walmsley supported Macken's case responds with the company's median gender pay gap.