roles Employers may wish to consider providing contextual information alongside gender pay information  to clear up any misleading impression and to avoid any negative publicity. A pay gap does not necessarily signify unlawful discrimination. This will be particularly important to keep up a positive image compared with competitors. Although providing narrative may be helpful in some instances, if it becomes the trend to provide lengthy narrative, this may have a detrimental effect on actually decreasing the gender pay gap (because it will become the norm to rationalise any gender pay gap). Employers may also wish to undertake an internal equal pay audit in advance of being required to publish the results in the public domain.

If discrepancies between the pay of men and women come to light, and equal pay claims are threatened by employees, a business may be influenced to settle equal pay claims to avoid any negative publicity. If any new complaints or grievances come to light in respect of pay discrepancies between men and women, an employer’s human resources department and management should work together to provide a consistent approach to such complaints or claims. Employers may also wish to provide training to management about the requirements under these regulations and to update policies where necessary. CONTACTS If you have any questions or would like more information on the issues discussed in this LawFlash, please contact any of the following Morgan Lewis lawyers: London Matthew Howse Pulina Whitaker [1] View the government’s announcement here. [2] View the government’s response here.   Copyright 2016 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP | All rights reserved .