A
female janitor has won a ground-breaking sex discrimination battle that will
force every local authority in Scotland to reconsider the issue of equal pay,
reports the Scotsman newspaper.
Evelyn
Imrie took legal action against City of Edinburgh Council after claiming that
she was being paid less than her male counterparts for doing the same job.
She
was employed as a ‘cleaner-in-charge’, while men with the title of ‘janitor’
received a higher hourly rate, more overtime and other perks. She said she did
the same or similar work and it was of equal value.
The
council agreed to pay Imrie £7,500 in compensation and to give her the same
terms and conditions as her male counterparts in an out-of-court settlement.
The
Equal Opportunities Commission Scotland, which sponsored Imrie’s court action,
said: "This case is an illustration of what can happen when you have
people employed to do the same job, but with different titles or different
hours of work.”
The
commission said the most important issue was what was done in practice, rather
than what was stated on paper.
City
of Edinburgh Council initially denied that Imrie carried out the same work,
saying she was employed on different terms and conditions, with a different job
description.
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