Strathclyde RC v Wallace

Strathclyde RC v Wallace is a UK labour law case concerning indirect discrimination and equal pay.

Facts

Teachers wanted equal pay as head teachers when they had to ‘act up’ or fill in for head teachers. Most of the teachers who acted up were in fact men.
The Tribunal held the women did have a claim, even though none of the factors relied were discriminatory. The Employment Appeal Tribunal overruled, and the women claimants were unsuccessful on appeal.

Judgment

The House of Lords refused the teachers' claim. Lord Browne-Wilkinson held that ‘the purpose of the section 1 of the Equal Pay Act is to eliminate sex discrimination in pay not to achieve fair wages’.