D.1 Are all of your employees covered by one of the job evaluation schemes in use in your organisation?
Employees outside the scope of a job evaluation scheme can make an equal pay claim comparing their work with that of employees within the scope of the scheme. It is also possible for a jobholder in one scheme to claim equal pay with a jobholder in a different job evaluation scheme. Where claims such as these are made, the job evaluation scheme(s) may not provide you with a defence. See legal background for more details.
D.2 Have you made any comparisons between the demands (and pay) of jobs covered by different job evaluation schemes?
You can do this in either of two ways:
- By evaluating a small number of jobs from scheme A, which are closest in nature to jobs in scheme B, using both schemes; and vice versa. Then compare the results and relative pay levels. For example, if job evaluation scheme A applies to clerical and managerial staff and scheme B applies to technical staff, it may be possible to identify jobs with, for example, supervisory responsibilities within each scheme which you could then evaluate using both schemes to determine which jobs are equal and to compare the respective pay rates.
- By undertaking ‘equal value’ checks on a sample of predominantly male-held and a sample of predominantly female-held jobs from each scheme, to test for compliance with equal pay requirements. For more information on equal value click see equal pay in practice guidance note 3.