Brighton and Hove City Council could be facing equal pay legal claims worth tens of millions of pounds, or “much more”.
The union GMB said it had lodged “a first tranche” of 400 legal claims against the authority “due to sex discrimination over the pay of members in predominantly female job roles”.
GMB said the value of the claims identified is estimated to be tens of millions of pounds but could be much more.
The union said it had approached Brighton and Hove City Council for a meeting to discuss the equal pay issues, but no date has yet been agreed.
The equal pay claims have been lodged with ACAS, prompting a period of six weeks in which early conciliation can take place between the employer and the union to seek a resolution to the issues prior to employment tribunal claims being lodged.
Equal pay claims were one of the contributory factors to Birmingham City Council issuing a section 114 notice, with a £760m liability estimated in the authority’s budget earlier this year. However, this is considered the maximum potential figure and not the most realistic, according to lead commissioner Max Caller, who sees any settlement figure agreed with GMB as the real number.
The exact value of the equal pay claims at Brighton and Hove is not known, with only GMB’s estimates to go on.
GMB described the “discrimination in how the council pays its staff” as “serious, systemic and long-running” with the next tranche of legal claims to be “submitted over the coming weeks”.
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