Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2008, publiée 98ème session CIT (2009)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Legislative developments. The Committee notes that the Equal Opportunities Act, 2006, entered into force on 1 March 2007. Section 31 provides for equal pay for men and women for like work, equivalent work, or work which is in terms of the demands (for instance under such headings as effort, skill and decision) of equal value. The Committee notes with interest that the provision explicitly incorporates the notion of work of equal value and that pay is defined broadly (section 31(6)(a)), in accordance with the Convention. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the implementation and enforcement of section 31 of the Equal Opportunities Act, including information on any cases brought before the courts and their outcomes. It also asks the Government to indicate measures taken to promote awareness of the Act’s equal pay provisions.

The Committee recalls that the Convention does not limit the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value to the level of the enterprise or undertaking. In this regard, the Committee notes that section 31 allows men and women to bring equal pay claims against their employers using comparators employed by the same employer or by any associated employer in Gibraltar in which common terms and conditions of employment are observed either generally or for employees of the relevant classes. Two employers are considered to be associated if one is a company of which the other (directly or indirectly) has control, or if both are companies of which a third person has (directly or indirectly) control. In addition, the Committee notes that under section 63 of the Act, terms contained in a collective agreement or any rule made by an employer are void where “the making of the collective agreement is, by reason of the inclusion of the term, unlawful by virtue of this Act” or “the term or rule is included or made in furtherance of an act which is unlawful by virtue of this Act” (section 63(2)(a) and (b)). The Committee asks the Government to indicate whether section 63 renders void terms of collective agreements or terms or rules of undertakings that violate the right to equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

Assessment of the gender pay gap. The Committee notes from the Employment Survey Report published by the Statistics Office in March 2008 that the gender wage gap for October 2007 (average monthly earnings for full-time work) was as wide as 31 per cent. The gender pay gap was wider in the private sector (33.3 per cent) than in the public sector (26.7 per cent). As regards the different industries, the gender pay gap was particularly wide in “financial intermediation” (47.6 per cent). The Committee asks the Government to provide updated information on the earnings of women and men that would allow the Committee to assess the progress made in closing the wide gender pay gap. In this regard, the Committee also asks the Government to provide detailed information on the measures taken to analyse and correct the causes of the continuing income gap between men and women and the results achieved by such measures.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. Noting that the Equal Opportunities Act’s equal pay provisions refers to the notions of “work rated as equivalent” and “work of equal value” in terms of the demands made on the employee, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on any measures taken or envisaged to promote the development and use of methods for the objective evaluation of jobs, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention.