Dinner ladies not equal with refuse collectors

Lawrence and others v Regent Office Care Ltd and others (ECJ The Times 10 October)

Female school cleaners and catering staff employed by North Yorkshire County Council had established equality with men performing jobs such as gardening, refuse collection and sewage treatment employed by the county council, and their rates of pay were raised to the same level. However, on the transfer of responsibility for the cleaning and catering service in schools under the council’s control to the respondents, the respondents re-employed a number of the female staff at rates of pay lower than those paid by the council before transfer. They also recruited female employees who had never been employed by the council at rates of pay lower than those paid by the council to its female employees before the transfer. The female employees claimed parity with their former male comparators.