Equal Pay - Statutory Grievance Procedure

[Thanks to Lionel Stride of Temple Garden Chambers for providing this case summary]

The EAT (Cox J) has handed down its decision in Birch v Walsall MBC, which is authority for the proposition that a written grievance raised in the context of an equal pay claim can still comply with step 1 of the statutory grievance procedure (SGP) even if such a document contains questions about equal pay that are outlawed by Regulation 14. In such circumstances, the dual purpose of the document should be recognised.

Any outlawed questions can then be excluded without vitiating the remainder of the grievance, provided it otherwise meets the minimum requirements needed to be SGP-compliant.