Not every employment problem affects just one person. Where an employer’s pay practices have affected a whole team, role, or workforce in the same way, employees can sometimes bring their claims together as a group, rather than each person starting a separate case from scratch. This is often called a multiple claim or group action, and it comes up most often in two areas: equal pay and holiday pay.
Equal pay claims
The Equality Act 2010 gives employees the right to equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex. This covers not only identical jobs but also work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation scheme, and work of equal value even where the jobs look different on the surface, for example comparing a traditionally female-dominated role with a traditionally male-dominated one that a tribunal finds to be of equal value.
Equal pay problems are frequently structural rather than individual. If a particular role or grade has historically been paid less, and that role is predominantly held by one sex, this can affect a large number of employees in the same way. Because the underlying question, whether the work is equal and whether any pay difference is objectively justified, is often the same across the group, it can make sense for affected employees to bring their claims together. This allows evidence about job content, grading, and the employer’s pay structures to be gathered and presented once, rather than repeated in dozens of separate hearings.
Equal pay claims have their own time limits, and there are specific rules about identifying a valid comparator of the opposite sex doing equal work for the same employer, so early advice matters.
Holiday pay claims
Holiday pay disputes often arise when an employer has calculated holiday pay using only basic salary, leaving out elements such as regular overtime, commission, or other payments that should have been included under the Working Time Regulations 1998 as interpreted by case law. Where a business has applied the same incorrect calculation across many employees on the same pay structure, this again tends to affect people in exactly the same way, making it well suited to a group approach.
Holiday pay claims are typically brought as unlawful deduction from wages claims, and there are specific rules about time limits and about how far back a claim can look, including a two-year backstop on the amount that can be recovered in tribunal claims lodged since July 2015. Because these calculations can be complex, particularly where a series of deductions is involved, getting the details right early makes a real difference to what can be recovered.
Why bring claims together
Bringing claims as a group does not change the fact that each person’s individual position is still assessed and can produce a different outcome depending on their own facts, such as their specific comparator, role, or hours. What it changes is efficiency: shared legal and factual issues are dealt with once, evidence about the employer’s practices is gathered collectively, and employees are not left to face a well-resourced employer’s response entirely alone. Employment tribunal rules allow multiple claimants to issue on a single claim form, or for tribunals to manage a number of related claims together, where their claims arise out of the same or similar circumstances.
No guaranteed outcome
Whether a group of employees has a valid equal pay or holiday pay claim, and what it might be worth, depends entirely on the specific facts, including the roles being compared, the pay structures involved, and the calculations behind them. We cannot promise a particular result. What we can do is assess the facts properly, explain the legal tests in plain English, and advise honestly on prospects before you decide whether to proceed.
If you believe you and colleagues have been affected by the same pay problem, whether that is unequal pay for equal work or holiday pay calculated on the wrong basis, it is worth getting advice on whether a group approach could apply to your situation.
This article is a general explanation of the law and does not constitute advice on any individual or group’s circumstances.