Workers should be able to know colleagues' salaries, rights body says
Employees should legally be able to find out what their co-workers are earning, the UK's equality watchdog says
Workers should be able to know colleagues' salaries, rights body says
Employees should have a legal right to find out what their colleagues earn, the UK’s equality watchdog has said.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has proposed that bosses be required to answer questionnaires about colleagues’ pay in order to reduce pay discrimination.
It also said employers should be barred from asking about current salary when making a job offer, so that a history of discrimination does not continue.
Employers in the UK can currently ask how much an applicant is paid in their present role, but applicants do not have to answer.
At present, employers are not required to respond to employee requests for salary information about colleagues.
The EHRC called on lawmakers to make it mandatory for employers to provide information within a set timeframe, including colleagues’ basic pay and hours worked, how employees’ pay compares with one another, and details of bonuses, overtime, shift-premiums and performance-related pay.
The watchdog said this would help reduce pay discrimination, particularly against women.
The EHRC has previously said women would also benefit if employers published salary details in job adverts.
John Kirkpatrick, the EHRC chief executive, told the BBC that employers should not be allowed to ask about salary history when deciding pay.
“When they do, what tends to happen is that can embed a history of disadvantage or discrimination in future salaries,” he said.
He said employers should still be able to offer a competitive salary, but it should not “create a pattern that discriminates,” he said.
The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women and gender equality, has previously said the question could help preserve historic unfair pay differences linked to gender, race and disability inequality.
The society said that instead of basing pay on skills, experience and performance, it allowed employers to reward an individual’s perceived worth and negotiating skills instead.