Birmingham Council 'reviewing equality judgement'

The Supreme Court has today delivered its decision that equal pay cases can be brought in the Civil Courts where the time limit for bringing these claims is six years rather than the current Employment Tribunal time limit of six months.

In the original claim, Abdulla v. Birmingham City Council, 174 claimants brought equal pay claims against the Council and issued them in the High Court as they were out of time for issuing claims in the Employment Tribunal.

Equal pay litigation until now has always been pursued in employment tribunals as these tribunals are experienced and specifically trained in dealing with such claims. In addition, there are very limited situations where costs follow the losing party, whereas in the civil court costs almost always follow the losing party.

The Council is reviewing this judgement in detail before considering its options going forward and will be making no further comment at this stage.