News: Contract Law
Employment law training: sex discrimination inquiry to be launched
10 February 2009
Employment law training could have to take an investigation by the Equality Commission into sex discrimination in the financial sector into account.
In a speech to a Trades Union Congress conference, Harriet Harman, the minister for women and equality, cited both the sector's pay gap and male-dominated boards as grounds for this inquiry.
She says the difference in wages between genders in the financial sector is 40 per cent and while half of the workers in the City are women, only one in 20 managing directors are female.
Ms Harman states: "As well as this inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission there will be some tough measures in the new equality bill which will help further narrow the gender pay gap."
In addition, the minister condemns the discrimination she says is prevalent throughout the industry, which could also hold legal repercussions employment law training should take into account.
Last month, a number of female members called on the government to monitor companies to ensure staff are not unfairly targeted for redundancies based on their gender.
