British Coal Corp v Smith

British Coal Corporation v Smith [1996] IRLR 404 is a UK labour law case, concerning equal pay.

Facts
Three collective agreements covered canteen, clerical and surface mineworkers who were British Coal employees. All, however, had pay and conditions set through a centralised industry level agreement. The mineworkers got production extra bonuses, varying locally. The female canteen and clerical workers claimed they were being unequally paid. They did not get a coal bonus, but got everything else.

The Tribunal held that the bonuses were ‘locally varied fulfilment of the same universally accepted central terms’.

Court of Appeal
Balcombe LJ [1994] ICR 810 overturned this, arguing under the Equal Pay Act 1970 section 1(6) that conditions needed to be the same if one chose a comparator at a different establishment - and not broadly or essentially similar terms.

House of Lords
Lord Slynn restored the tribunal, saying, ‘the terms and conditions do not have to be identical’, just ‘substantially comparable’. Otherwise it would be ‘far too restrictive’.

The purpose of requiring common terms and conditions was to avoid it being said simply ‘a gardener does work of equal value to mine and my comparator at another establishment is a gardener’. It was necessary for the applicant to go further and show that gardeners at other establishments and at her establishment were or would be employed on broadly similar terms. It was necessary, but it was also sufficient.