The Labour Relations Agency Arbitration Scheme Order (Northern Ireland) 2012

Appendix C Provisions of the Equal Pay Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 reproduced for the purposes of the Scheme

The provisions of the Equal Pay Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 reproduced for the purposes of the Scheme are—

“2A.— (1) Where on a complaint or reference made to an industrial tribunal under section 2, a dispute arises as to whether any work is of equal value as mentioned in section 1(2)(c) the tribunal may either –

(a) proceed to determine that question; or

(b) require a member of the panel of independent experts to prepare a report with respect to that question.

(1A) Subsections (1B) and (1C) apply in a case where the tribunal has required a member of the panel of independent experts to prepare a report under paragraph (b) of subsection (1).

(1B) The tribunal may –

(a) withdraw the requirement; and

(b) request the member of the panel of independent experts to provide it with any documentation specified by it or make any other request to him connected with the withdrawal of the requirement.

(1C) If the requirement has not been withdrawn under paragraph (a) of subsection (1B), the tribunal shall not make any determination under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) unless it has received the report.

(2) Subsection (2A) applies in a case where –

(a) a tribunal is required to determine whether any work is of equal value as mentioned in section 1(2)(c), and

(b) the work of the woman and that of the man in question have been given different values on a study such as is mentioned in section 1(6).

(2A) The tribunal shall determine that the work of the woman and that of the man are not of equal value unless the tribunal has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the evaluation contained in the study –

(a) was (within the meaning of subsection (3)) made on a system which discriminates on grounds of sex, or

(b) is otherwise unsuitable to be relied upon.

(3) An evaluation contained in a study such as is mentioned in section 1(6) is made on a system which discriminates on grounds of sex where a difference, or coincidence, between values set by that system on different demands under the same or different headings is not justifiable irrespective of the sex of the person on whom those demands are made.

(4) In this section a reference to a member of a panel of independent experts is a reference to a person who is for the time being designated by the Labour Relations Agency for the purposes of this section as such a member, being neither a member of that Agency nor one of its officers or servants.”