Woman loses equal pay claim at Equality Tribunal

A case concerning a female senior consultant who claimed that her employer breached Norwegian law regarding the principle of equal pay for work of equal value came before the Equality and Anti-discrimination Tribunal in February 2007. The tribunal ruled in favour of the plaintiff, arguing that her work was of equal value to that of a male typographer in the same company. However, the woman lost the case as the tribunal also considered the payment of the two employees to be at the same level. This is the first time that two such diverse positions were considered to be of equal value by the tribunal.

In February 2007, a case was put before the Equality and Anti-discrimination Tribunal (Likestillings- og dirskrimineringsnemnda) in Norway, in which a female employee claimed that her employer had breached the legal provision regarding the right to equal pay for work of equal value.

Background to case

The woman in question was employed as a senior consultant by a major newspaper in Norway. She claimed that her work was of equal value to that of a male typographer employed by the same company. In January 2005, she asked the Office of the Ombudsman (Sivilombudsmannen) to give its judgment on whether the work carried out with respect to the two posts were of equal value, and the extent to which the wage difference between them implied a breach of the Gender Equality Act (in Norwegian). In all, 73% of senior consultants employed by the newspaper are women and 80% of the typographers are men. The Ombudsman considered the level of the wages paid to be in conflict with the Gender Equality Act, and the case was then put before the tribunal by the employer.

At the time when the case was put before the Ombudsman, the woman worked as a consultant. On 1 January 2006, she was promoted to the position of senior consultant, which also implied a pay rise. The tribunal decided to use her position as senior consultant, and not the position as consultant, as a benchmark when comparing her work and salary to that of the typographer.

Factors taken into consideration by tribunal

The tribunal assessed the two positions of senior consultant and typographer on the basis of several factors. While the focus of the typographer’s work is mainly technical, the focus of the senior consultant is on selling advertisements. Although these tasks differed greatly, the tribunal, with reference to the Gender Equality Act, stated that this did not prevent them from being compared, as it is the value of the positions that should be considered. The qualifications required by workers who hold these two positions were considered to be at the same level. Furthermore, the level of responsibility in both positions was also considered to be equivalent, as the posts were at the same level in the company hierarchy and there was no management responsibility required in either role. The tribunal also took into consideration the pressures of work involved in the two positions, and concluded that both the typographer and the senior consultant had to work under the same time constraints. In conclusion, the tribunal considered the work carried out in relation to the two positions to be of equal value.

When judging whether the two employees received equal pay, the tribunal took into consideration both regular wages and bonuses received by the workers. The fact that both positions had their wages fixed by collective agreements was irrelevant, as the Gender Equality Act explicitly states that the right to equal pay is applicable even where wages are set by such agreements. However, in the end, the woman failed to win her case, as the tribunal considered the wages to be equal.

Commentary

The Equality and Anti-discrimination Tribunal enforces the various Norwegian equality and anti-discrimination acts, including the Gender Equality Act. As of 1 January 2006, it replaces the former Gender Equality Tribunal. The rulings of the tribunal are administratively binding, but can be overruled by a court of law. Over time, the rulings of these tribunals have led to developments in Norwegian gender equality law regarding the right to equal pay (NO0204101N). In this regard, how to compare jobs regardless of the professional skills required by employees is often considered to be the main problem when considering equal pay. The case of the newspaper employee represents the first time two such diverse positions were considered to be of equal value by the tribunal.

Kristin Alsos, Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research