Weekly Issue 293

Supreme Court rules on equal pay limitation

An important decision last week by the Supreme Court means that employees will be able to bring equal pay complaints up to six years after their job has come to an end.

Excluded personnel

Although generally the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) tries to interpret EU laws as uniformly as possible with the national laws that transpose them, it held in United States of America v Nolan that that principle did not apply if a provision was expressly excluded by EU law.

Mutual obligation

For a contract of employment to exist, there has to be some mutuality of obligation between the parties - in other words, the employer has to offer work and the employee has to accept it.