The Court of Appeal has ruled this week on the issue of whether
men on shared parental leave should be paid the same as women on
maternity leave. Their answer is a resounding no. This
will be welcomed by many employers who may otherwise have faced the
invidious decision as to whether they could afford to continue any
enhanced maternity benefits at all, if they were effectively
required to level up these benefits for those on shared parental
leave.
The key issue being determined in the combined appeals of
Capita v Ali and Hextall v
Chief Constable of Leicestershire was whether it is
unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex (whether direct,
indirect, or equal pay) for men to be paid less on shared parental
leave (SPL) than mothers are paid on maternity leave
(ML).
