The Supreme Court has held, in Birmingham City Council v Abdulla, that employees have up to six years in which they can bring equal pay claims in the High Court – in contrast with the six month limit on bringing such claims in the employment tribunal.The case concerned 174 former employees of Birmingham City Council, who discovered some time after having left their employment that some of their ex-colleagues had received equal pay compensation payments from the Council.The claimants were by this point out of time to bring equal pay claims in the employment tribunal, where there is a six-month time limit, which, unusually, cannot be extended by the tribunal.Following conflicting decisions at the High Court, the Court of Appeal and subsequently the Supreme Court has held that claimants can bring equal pay claims in the civil courts, even where they would be out of time to bring a tribunal claim.
Comment: There has been some speculation that this judgment will lead to the floodgates being opened to a flurry of new equal pay claims.However, the reality is that claimants bringing unmeritorious claims in the high court risk being presented with a large bill for the other side's legal costs.It seems to us therefore that only claims with some substance will be likely to proceed and that the usual course of action will still be for equal claims to be heard in the employment tribunal (where costs are rarely awarded against the losing party).
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